A woman who travelled in an Enugu Air flight to Enugu State on Friday has narrated how a male passenger became unruly after one of the air hostesses asked him to “switch off your phone now” when the plane was about to take off.
The woman, Rose Amechi, said in a post on her Facebook page that after the instruction that all phones should be switched off because the plane was about to take off, the man refused to do so and continued to talk with his phone inside the plane.
She wrote: “I was on an Enugu Air flight yesterday. The air hostess announced that all phones should be switched off as we were about to take off. The man directly behind me was still talking on his phone.
“Another air hostess came and asked him to switch off his phone. He didn’t. A third air hostess came a minute later and said ‘you need to switch off your phone now.’ The plane had already started moving.
“The man objected to the use of the word, ‘now.’
“He asked: ‘Why must you use the word now? Are you giving me an instruction? How dare you speak to me like that! Who are you to instruct me?’ he shouted.
“Unfazed, the hostess stood her ground. They went back and forth debating the propriety of using the word ‘now’ in the situation and then the man said ‘withdraw the word ‘now.’’ She declined to withdraw it. Then the man said ‘if you don’t withdraw that word, I will not switch off the phone.’
“He continued talking to the person on the other end of the phone whereupon the rest of us jumped in and scolded him. We told him she had done nothing wrong, she had a right to give an instruction and he should just obey the instruction and switch off his phone.
“He was still obstinate and took us all on. His arrogance was unbelievable. The woman beside him defended him and said the air hostess had no right to use the word ‘now.’ She seemed unconcerned about her safety which he was, at that moment, compromising with his attitude. I thought she was his wife.
“After a protracted shouting match during which we expended all the negative energy accumulated from the nervousness of flying, he finally switched off his phone.
“When we got to Enugu, the airport security and a couple of military men were waiting for him outside the plane. He must have known they were there to pick him up for his disruptive behaviour.
“He followed them meekly. Gone was the arrogant bluster with which he addressed the air hostess and the other passengers. Gone was the self entitlement and aggression.
“The woman who egged him on and defended his bad behaviour was nowhere to be found. He was taken away to be taught a little lesson im flight etiquette. Wish I could have been a fly on the wall to witness it.”
