Someone On This Airplane Is Wrong. But Who???

Nothing makes my day like an upgrade clearing at the last minute!

— Matthew Klint (@LiveandLetsFly) January 26, 2012

This story has it all. Okay, first the facts, as we know them. (We know them, so far, from the account of just one party.)

Dude — Matthew Klint, a 26-year-old preppy white man and a frequent flier blogger — boards plane. (The plane is a United plane.) Dude takes a few pictures of his seat. Flight attendant says pictures are forbidden, points out printed rules. (Photography is disallowed on-board, say rules: explicitly any photos of other passengers, crew, equipment and procedures are banned, with an exception for “personal events.”) Passenger says nothing, puts away phone. Another passenger is told by flight attendant not to take pictures. First passenger summons attendant, explains that he’s not a terrorist, and that he writes about airlines, and that’s why he was taking pictures. Flight attendant goes to captain, captain boots passenger from the plane, saying that passenger kept taking photos after being told to stop and that flight attendant felt unsafe. Passenger protests, is threatened with arrest, then escorted off the plane. And rebooked on another flight.

So what story is this?

• Mansplaining Man Learns Important Lesson About Shutting Up

• Brave Traveler Stands Up to Nation’s Ridiculous Security Theater

• Cash-Strapped Airlines Exhaust Staff Into Terrible Choices

• Flight Attendant Kicks Dingbat To Curb… OR… Flight Attendant Freaks Out on Normal Passenger

• Privileged White Man Gets Treated Like Everyone Else For A While, Freaks Out

Or… something else? All of the above? The comments on the traveler’s write-up of the event are really and truly all over the map. But NOT ALL OVER THE PLANE. Haha, because he was kicked off, see. Anyway sad story. Or is it. (via)