Comments on: American Airlines lawsuit: John Cerqueira responds

By: Bill Poser

Bill Poser — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 04:34:02 +0000

If you aren’t willing to avoid the appearance of evil when you are flying, then maybe you should take the bus. I certainly don’t want you on my flights.

What are you talking about? How did he fail to avoid “the appearance of evil”? There’s nothing to suggest that even in the airline’s account.

By: B. Long

B. Long — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:36:29 +0000

Dear Mr. Cerqueria:
If you aren’t willing to avoid the appearance of evil when you are flying, then maybe you should take the bus. I certainly don’t want you on my flights.

By: M. Matheson

M. Matheson — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:38:36 +0000

Society has a compelling interest in allowing the airlines to diligently screen passengers without fear of reprisal, that’s the intent of 44902. The judges in this case appear to be protecting that intent.

I’ve no doubt that you were severely inconvenienced by your delay. I also suspect that you found the whole experience to be somewhat embarrassing and offensive. It could have been that the airlines had good reason to suspect the other two passengers and had no idea whether or not to suspect you. With the stakes this high, discretion is the better part of valor.

The issue is not merely discrimination or merely the airlines ability to enforce safety: its some combination of the two. To sue for one and to deny the other is a controvertible perspective.

I’ve no idea of the behavioral issues by either party which contributed to this conflict; but I am at a loss to conceive on any situation which warrants a $400 judgment in favor of a person detained for 2 hours (or a week even).

By: Bill Poser

Bill Poser — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:32:22 +0000

J.T. Wenting,

We do have another account of his behavior. The court refers to it in its decision.

By: J.T. Wenting

J.T. Wenting — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:42:10 +0000

Given that we have no account of his behaviour except his own I can’t exclude the possibility that he became agressive and abusive towards airline staff and equipment and was denied boarding on the second flight because of that.

I’ve seen (and heard) enough of what passengers hurl at airline staff even if they’ve not been denied boarding earlier that I take any of their stories with a massive grain of salt.

By: John Rohan

John Rohan — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 05:38:18 +0000

I agree he shouldn’t have been refused service after the flight, although I would like to see AA’s justification for that first (or maybe they deny they refused him service?).

But in any case, the original $400k judgement for this incident was ludicrious. 130k of that was “compensatory” damages. Can Mr. Cerqueira honestly claim that he lost that much money by being delayed at the airport for a few hours?

By: Bill Poser

Bill Poser — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 23:57:17 +0000

The initial removal and additional screening may have been justified – there seem to be different accounts of the facts that may have justified suspicion – but nothing I have read justifies the airline’s refusal to transport Mr. Cerqueira on another flight after he had been cleared by the TSA. One can quarrel with the amount of damages awarded, but it seems to me that the airline did arbitrarily discriminate against him and that he deserved damages for this.