As reported in Newsday, quick thinking stewardesses, whose reflexes were honed by their experience avoiding Elvis look-alikes in cowboy bars around the country, quickly acted to save a planeful of passengers from the potential wrath of the Lord at JFK Airport yesterday.
The Orthodox Jewish man, who wore a full beard, a black hat and a long black coat, stood near the lavatories and began saying his prayers while the United Airlines jet was being boarded at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday night, fellow passenger Ori Brafman said.
“He doesn’t respond to them, but his friends explain that once you start praying you can’t stop,” said Brafman, who was seated three rows away.
What? You thought it was some Muslim extremist? And what did this animal do when he finished his prayers and could then attack these fine stewardesses?
When the man finally stopped praying, he explained that he couldn’t interrupt his religious ritual and wasn’t trying to be rude.
What a shame that they don’t carry tasers, because if there was ever a time when they were needed on an airplane, this was it.
So now that this dangerous religious fanatic was finished praying, what does a highly trained stewardess do to assure the safety of all the passengers and get them to their destination as quickly as possible?
But the attendants summoned a guard to remove him, said Brafman, a writer who had been visiting New York to talk to publishers.
That will show that black-coated animal. Hah! Anybody want to argue why flight attendants shouldn’t be armed?
Discover more from Simple Justice
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Meh. I’m having a hard time getting worked up about this one. Did he warrant getting ejected from the flight? I can’t really say without having been there, but it’s hardly a surprising consequence of his actions. Would someone get a pass for ignoring the attendant’s instructions and potentially delaying the flight if they decided they needed a couple of minutes to do the hokey-pokey or something? I’m guessing not, so the same applies for performing any religious ritual, IMO. And pleading ignorance here, but I’m curious as to whether he was actually required to stand as part of said prayer. Is there some reason he couldn’t have prayed to his heart’s content in his seat? Bottom line: unless you’re spurting blood out of your neck or something, sit down and let the plane get a-rolling…I got places to go and things to do, people! Hmmm…maybe I should have been a flight attendant.
You are just a scary person. Not very scary, just medium.
Haha! Just medium scary? Dang. I guess I only drank a medium amount of the TSA kool-aid. 🙂 When I fly, I might not want to sit down, put my tray table up and turn off my phone when they tell me to, but I do it anwyay. Then I get even later by asking for extra peanuts and the WHOLE can of soda. That’s usually enough to provoke at least a small sigh and an eye-roll. And I’m pretty sure they can’t boot you off for that after the plane is in the air. Yet.
P.S. Even as a I Am Not a Lawyer type, I really enjoy your blog and think you’re really informative and on target. But I’m just not getting it this time. Maybe I’m just feeling uncharacteristically compliant today for some reason. I don’t know. Want some of my kool-aid? It’s pretty tasty. Really. 😉
No cool-aid for me, baby, but I’ll take some peanuts if you have any left.
Sure! I’ve got a whole stash of them in my properly sized carry-on bag. Truth is, I don’t even particularly like peanuts. I’m just a rebel like that. Don’t tell.
Your secret is safe with me.
Perhaps anyone in a similar situation, where the plane is ready to take off sooner than expected, (planes are usually very lax about taking off on schedule),should have a card in their shirt pocket that they can hand to the interrupter that explains the situation.
Per the article, there were others who were not praying but explained to the stewardess that he couldn’t stop in the middle, and that he’d be done in a moment. I don’t think a card would have changed things. It wasn’t about informing them, but about putting absolute control in the hands of people who are incapable of exercising it appropriately.