Man says JetBlue Pilot Forced Him To Sit On Toilet

**Midnight Mike** · 05-12-2008, 07:30 PM

Manhattan Resident Suing Low-Cost Airline, Claims He Spent Part Of San Diego To NYC Flight In Restroom

A New York City man is suing JetBlue Airways Corp. for more than $2 million because he says a pilot made him give up his seat to a flight attendant and sit on the toilet for more than three hours on a flight from California.

Gokhan Mutlu, of Manhattan's Inwood section, says in court papers the pilot told him to "go 'hang out' in the bathroom" about 90 minutes into the San Diego to New York flight because the flight attendant complained that the "jump seat" she was assigned was uncomfortable, the lawsuit said.

Mutlu was traveling on a a "buddy pass," a standby travel voucher that JetBlue employees give to friends, from New York to San Diego on Feb. 16, and returned to New York on Feb. 23, the lawsuit said.

http://wcbstv.com/local/jetblue.gokhan. ... 22250.html

**MarkLawrence** · 05-12-2008, 07:35 PM

Holy crap!

**T-Bird76** · 05-12-2008, 07:49 PM

Hmmm I know when you travel on a buddy pass you may have to give up your seat before the flight leaves but when its in the air... I wager this guy might just have a lawsuit on his hands...at the least if this is true why didn't the pilot offer the empty jump seat...unless it was in the cockpit.

**G-BOAD** · 05-12-2008, 08:23 PM

Very interesting...
But I think instead of suing the airline, he should go after the pilot/FA; or B6 should.

**T-Bird76** · 05-12-2008, 08:32 PM

Originally Posted by G-BOAD

Very interesting...
But I think instead of suing the airline, he should go after the pilot/FA; or B6 should.

Matt the pilot and FA are jetBlue, while working any action they take is being taken as an agent of jetBlue and therefor the company is responsible for their actions.

**HPNPilot1200** · 05-13-2008, 05:02 AM

Originally Posted by T-Bird76

Hmmm I know when you travel on a buddy pass you may have to give up your seat before the flight leaves but when its in the air... I wager this guy might just have a lawsuit on his hands...at the least if this is true why didn't the pilot offer the empty jump seat...unless it was in the cockpit.

Post 9/11, it's typical company policy to only allow the cockpit jump seat to uniformed crew members of the same airline. My dad has jump seat privileges with B6, but is always seated in the cabin since he works for another company. Same deal with AirTran, though they usually give him a seat in first class if one is available.

This guy was traveling on a buddy pass. A law suit is really pressing his luck IMHO.

**stuart schechter** · 05-13-2008, 07:42 AM

Jason,

Buddy pass or not, sitting on a toilet because the FA wanted more comfort, is just inhumane. Imagine being at a sports game and some guy comes up and says, go sit on the toilets, my seat isn't comfortable enough. Just unreal..

**LGA777** · 05-13-2008, 09:01 AM

I feel sorry for the B6 employee who gave out the buddy pass, as not only have they had flack from their "buddy" but I'm sure the company is not thrilled with so much attention this is bringing to B6. We have on Regis at work and he even mentioned it.

Cheers

LGA777

**Matt Molnar** · 05-13-2008, 09:19 AM

Originally Posted by LGA777

I feel sorry for the B6 employee who gave out the buddy pass, as not only have they had flack from their "buddy" but I'm sure the company is not thrilled with so much attention this is bringing to B6. We have on Regis at work and he even mentioned it.

If things happened the way he says they did, it's their pilot's fault, not the guy who gave out the buddy pass. Once you're on board you're entitled to be treated like any other passenger even if you're flying for free, and under federal law anyone on board has to have a seat with a seatbelt. What if they hit some turbulence and the guy got hurt while he was in the bathroom? Then they'd have a real problem.

**LGA777** · 05-13-2008, 12:13 PM

I agree, but how many people reading this would be happy that their employer was getting sued and a large scale negative media story about their employer was happening indirectly because of an incident beyond your control but that still would not have happened if you had not offered the buddy pass.

For those of you who are not airline employees, we are responsible for the behavior of, and education of (rules and polices) to people who use our buddy passes. It cleary states in our policy that if I give someone a buddy pass and they due something extremely bad, I can loose my travel privledges or even in extreme circumstances, be terminated. I actually knew someone about 10 years ago that was fired from US because his buddy pass rider got drunk inflight, and went nuts and vandalized and damaged some cabin items while inflight, and was arrested went the flight landed, and the aircraft had to go to a hangar, for cabin damage repair, and a few flights that day where cancelled as a result.

Also for those of you who have never used a buddy pass, or travelled non-rev as an airline employee, you have very, very few normal passenger rights. For example if we loose your bag, and its never found, you are due no compensation, same if your bag is damaged or even destroyed. If your flying international, or any flight where meals are still served, if there aren't enough meals, then its the non-revs who go hungry. With long delays and cancellations, no meal or hotel vouchers are given out. The list goes on and on, but being sent to the lav, and being in heavy turbulance in their with out a seat belt is a complety different issue that no one should have been subjected to. I would not even be shocked to see B6 fined by the FAA over this from a safety issue. I mean our rights do include oxygen if the cabin depressuirizes and a life jacket for a ditching.

Again, I feel for the B6 employee this person got the buddy pass from, as even though there was significant mistreatment to the bp rider, but having him sue the company creates a sitiuation I would hate to be in.

Regards

LGA777

**HPNPilot1200** · 05-13-2008, 12:54 PM

Originally Posted by stuart schechter

Jason,

Buddy pass or not, sitting on a toilet because the FA wanted more comfort, is just inhumane. Imagine being at a sports game and some guy comes up and says, go sit on the toilets, my seat isn't comfortable enough. Just unreal..

I'm not saying what they did was right, I'm just laying down the facts. If I was non-revving on a flight and was told to give up my seat for a FA and saw no available seats left, I would just get off the flight and hop the next one. It doesn't take much common sense. Even if they told him to hang out in the bathroom for 15 minutes, if it was me I wouldn't have done it.

**lijk604** · 05-13-2008, 01:35 PM

This story reeks of BS if you ask me. This guy is trying to get a quick buck, and his "friend" who gave him the buddy pass has probably lost all privliges now. What a tool!

**Matt Molnar** · 05-13-2008, 01:39 PM

Originally Posted by HPNPilot1200

If I was non-revving on a flight and was told to give up my seat for a FA and saw no available seats left, I would just get off the flight and hop the next one. It doesn't take much common sense. Even if they told him to hang out in the bathroom for 15 minutes, if it was me I wouldn't have done it.

The guy says it happened when they were already in the air, so getting off was not an option.

Originally Posted by LGA777

For those of you who are not airline employees, we are responsible for the behavior of, and education of (rules and polices) to people who use our buddy passes. It cleary states in our policy that if I give someone a buddy pass and they due something extremely bad, I can loose my travel privledges or even in extreme circumstances, be terminated. I actually knew someone about 10 years ago that was fired from US because his buddy pass rider got drunk inflight, and went nuts and vandalized and damaged some cabin items while inflight, and was arrested went the flight landed, and the aircraft had to go to a hangar, for cabin damage repair, and a few flights that day where cancelled as a result.

Also for those of you who have never used a buddy pass, or travelled non-rev as an airline employee, you have very, very few normal passenger rights. For example if we loose your bag, and its never found, you are due no compensation, same if your bag is damaged or even destroyed. If your flying international, or any flight where meals are still served, if there aren't enough meals, then its the non-revs who go hungry. With long delays and cancellations, no meal or hotel vouchers are given out. The list goes on and on, but being sent to the lav, and being in heavy turbulance in their with out a seat belt is a complety different issue that no one should have been subjected to. I would not even be shocked to see B6 fined by the FAA over this from a safety issue. I mean our rights do include oxygen if the cabin depressuirizes and a life jacket for a ditching.

Interesting stuff, Ron.

**T-Bird76** · 05-13-2008, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by lijk604

This story reeks of BS if you ask me. This guy is trying to get a quick buck, and his "friend" who gave him the buddy pass has probably lost all privliges now. What a tool!

Wouldn't surprise me if the pilot did this. I've meet a couple very odd B6 pilots and I wouldn't put it past them. The pilot probably had the mind set that this guy is flying for free and is a second class passenger in his eyes and figured he can order him to do what he wants.

B6 buddy passes blow nowadays. They aren't even free, that buddy pass from JFK cost that guy 120 bucks. IMO it amounts to a discounted ticket with no rights....

**Midnight Mike** · 05-13-2008, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by T-Bird76

Originally Posted by lijk604

This story reeks of BS if you ask me. This guy is trying to get a quick buck, and his "friend" who gave him the buddy pass has probably lost all privliges now. What a tool!

Wouldn't surprise me if the pilot did this. I've meet a couple very odd B6 pilots and I wouldn't put it past them. The pilot probably had the mind set that this guy is flying for free and is a second class passenger in his eyes and figured he can order him to do what he wants.

B6 buddy passes blow nowadays. They aren't even free, that buddy pass from JFK cost that guy 120 bucks. IMO it amounts to a discounted ticket with no rights....

I have used buddy passes on Jetblue & other airlines, I find it surprising that a pilot would request/force any passenger riding on a buddy pass to sit in the Lav for any extended period of time.. Also, surprised that a Flight Attendant does not the comfort level of the jumpseat.

This does not pass the smell test......