John McLeod didn't immediately return his seat to its full upright position as a US Airways jet approached Tampa last month, and he was shocked by the consequences.
The 60-year-old small business owner from Asheville, N.C., said a flight attendant rebuked him and gave him sharp pokes in the shoulder.
After McLeod complained, the crew member reported him as a disruptive passenger and had Tampa International Airport police escort him off the plane.
Police questioned McLeod, who teaches Bible study at his church, and several passengers who backed up his story, then decided the flight attendant's call was unfounded.
"I've flown for 25 years and this guy was the worst," said McLeod, who takes about 15 domestic and international flights annually for his wholesale auto parts company, MB Marketing & Manufacturing. "I think the guy has got some issues."
Such cases of alleged crew rage appear to be rare. But the mood inside airplanes has become palpably more tense in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and increasingly crowded cabins, said Dawn Deeks, spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants, which represents 46,000 flight attendants at 26 airlines.
Incidents of disruptive passengers far outnumber cases of airline employees abusing customers, she said. But flight attendants are feeling the tension, too, Deeks acknowledged, and they must deal with the additional pressure caused by financial troubles facing many airlines.
"They have full planes and bare-bones crews to handle all this, on top of pay cuts and everything," she said. "They're in a tense situation and can make a mistake."
Asked about McLeod's experience on the Dec. 5 flight from Charlotte, N.C., to Tampa, US Airways would not identify the flight attendant or say if he was disciplined over the incident.
"We do not discuss personnel actions or issues involving our customers," said spokesman David Castelveter. "Though we will not discuss the circumstances of this matter ... in no case should a customer interfere with flight attendants in the discharge of their duties."
Flight attendants try to avoid "physical interaction" with passengers, said John McCorkle, a 15-year flight attendant who writes an airline newsletter for e-mail subscribers. At most, he said, they might wake up a passenger with a tap on the shoulder.
McLeod didn't even plan to fly US Airways for the trip to visit his mother and sister in Clearwater. But Delta Air Lines canceled his flight from Asheville and booked him on US Airways with flights to Charlotte and then to Tampa.
On the second flight, he was awakened by an announcement that the jet was on its initial approach to Tampa. McLeod raised his first-class seat - but only about three-quarters of the way up - took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
He said he felt "a real poke" in the shoulder, looked up and heard the flight attendant demand that he raise the seat completely. "I was astounded," McLeod said. "I told him, "Okay, but don't touch me.' I was offended."
The flight attendant walked away, then turned and asked if McLeod had a problem with him. "He walked back over to me - very close - and said something to the effect of, "This is my plane. You have to do what I tell you when I tell you to do it,"' McLeod said. "And he poked me again."
McLeod wasn't surprised to see an airport police officer when the aircraft door opened in Tampa. The officer questioned him in the terminal, getting close enough to sniff his breath. Another officer went on the plane to talk with the flight attendant and passengers.
Several passengers "are advising the same circumstances as the accused," reads an airport police report. "No further action will be taken."
