Steven Slater's Story Continuing to Unravel?

snip:
Howard Deneroff, an executive producer for CBS/Westwood One Radio, told "Early Show" co-anchor Erica Hill Friday Slater's demeanor was different from that of the other flight attendants from the start of the flight - he seemed stern - then Slater was gruff during an encounter with a passenger.

Deneroff described a run-in he had with Slater over the position of his seat as the plane landed. Deneroff says Slater wound up slapping the back of the seat, then walking off "in a huff." (You can see the entire interview at the bottom of this story)

Other passengers are coming forward, saying Slater's story doesn't hold up.

Lauren Wood told CBS News Slater he was more zero than hero. "He was very rude to everyone throughout the entire flight," Wood says. "I feel like, yeah, we all have our moments where we're pushed to the limit, but there's a line that he crossed. I don't think this man should be called a hero at all."

Asked by reporters to respond, Turman said only, "I can't answer for the intent of the minds of those people you spoke to."

While Slater may have tapped into some people's frustrations with their jobs in a time of seemingly endless cutbacks, Tracy notes, some say it's really a cautionary tale. "This guy reminds me of if Mel Gibson were the one monitoring your flight," observed Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture. "Who knows -- what if the next time this guy goes off and loses his cool, he decides to open the emergency exit when the plane's still up in the air?"

JetBlue has suspended Slater, who has some criminal charges pending as a result of the incident, and there's no word on whether the carrier will allow him to return to work.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/13/earlyshow/main6769324.shtml

I can understand why he'd be in a bad mood all flight long. And if the one who did it then continued to verbally abuse him, then I think those are sufficiently mitigating circumstances.

And by the way, I personally find MOST airline personnel - from ticket counter to FA - to all be rather rude. So saying Slater was rude tells me nothing.

Good old media. Build em' up. Tear em' down.

:rofl:

But they cannot find the one passenger that phyiscially *assaulted* Slater with her bag?

Having flight attendants in my family - I look at these people who want to kick the guy when he's down as most likely part of the problem he went off about.

That executive producer was probably in the wrong, and KNEW he was - you are supposed to put your seat in position for landing. But many of these *executive types* ignore the FAs, just for chuckles at times.

And all of these *suddenly* vociferous passengers just want to get into the media feeding frenzy.

I'm giving Slater the benefit of the doubt. I've seen how assholish people can get on flights. I've also seen those very same assholes abuse the flight crew, for WHATEVER reason. It's a thankless job, that seems to be getting worse.