All Joao Correa wanted to do was go to the lavatory. Instead, he was charged with felony assault and landed in jail for two days.
The last meal the Philips Healthcare marketing manager ate in Honduras didn’t agree with him, but, unfortunately, as Correa looked down the single-aisle Boeing 737, a beverage cart was blocking his way.
He asked the Delta flight attendant whether he could use the lavatory in business class. The flight attendant said no, so he returned to his seat, hoping that the beverage cart would move. In a few minutes, “desperation came over him.”
What happened next on the March 28 flight depends on who is talking.
In a telephone interview, Correa “ran straight to the business class bathroom,” telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he had no choice.
According to Correa, flight attendant Stephanie Scott “put up her arm and blocked his entry into business class, according to an FBI affidavit. Correa then grabbed her arm to keep his balance.”
Scott, however, said Correa stormed up the aisle and insisted to use the bathroom. She said she lightly placed her arm on his shoulder and asked him to move back. Correa then grabbed her right arm, pulled it downward and twisted it, she told an FBI agent.
When Correa refused to return to his seat, Scott called the pilot who talked to Correa. The pilot let Correa use the bathroom in business class. Correa did and returned to his seat, where he stayed for the rest of the three-hour flight.
However, Scott’s statement and corroboration from a witness who was a pilot for another airline gave the FBI probable cause to charge Correa with assault.
When Delta flight 406 landed in Atlanta, Correa was told that could not make his connection to his home in Concord, Ohio. He was arrested that Saturday and jailed for two nights. The following Monday, he appeared before a U.S. magistrate in federal court in Atlanta and was granted bond.
Correa said that his job often requires him to travel. He was in Central America to conduct sales training in Panama and to visit customers in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras. Before March 28, he said, he had never had any trouble on a flight.
Delta spokeswoman Susan Elliott said “flight crews do all they can to ensure the safety and security of passengers.”
So the question becomes who was telling the truth?
If flight attendant Scott was telling the truth, then Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) 91.11, which covers General Operating and Flight Rules, and FAR 125.328, come into play. Both state that “No person may assault, threaten, intimidate, or interfere with a crewmember in the performance of the crewmember’s duties aboard an aircraft being operated.”
Basically, if your actions can be construed as a danger to the aircraft, its passengers and crew, you are in violation of the above FARs.
Techwing, a top contributor to Yahoo! Answers, puts it best:
This does not mean that passengers must obey crew unconditionally, but it does mean that crew members have broad latitude to tell passengers what to do, as long as they can show that their instructions are related to safety or the performance of their legitimate duties. Telling a passenger to put on more lipstick, or telling a passenger to get to the back of the plane because of his skin color, would be obviously over the line and indefensible. Telling a passenger to stop using an electronic device or to return to his seat and fasten his seat belt are normally legitimate instructions.
You can also ask why Correa didn’t tell the flight attendant his plight and ask that the beverage cart be moved.
For now, Delta is cooperating with authorities in the investigation of the incident. They “strictly follows Federal Aviation Administration policy, which calls for passengers on international flights to use the lavatory in their seating class.”
A preliminary hearing, in which federal prosecutors must lay out their case against Correa, has been scheduled for April 17.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Really, we were talking about a BATHROOM. This guy was not storming the cock pit, he was not trying to get a celebrity autograph from a business class passenger. This was a moment where a judgement call by the flight attendant to let a man use another bathroom because the drink cart was blocking access to his would have been appropriate. The fact that it escalated, IMO, is the fault of the flight attendant. It wasn’t a safety issue, it was a human function thing.
Given that the aisle was blocked and that wasn’t going to change quickly, I think that it would be reasonable to allow a passenger in distress to use the lav in business class.
Having said that, there is no excuse for a passenger to grab the arm of any member of the flight crew and twist it, just because he or she said no and then blocked the aisle.
A little better communication between the passenger and the FA and a little compassion and I think this whole mess could have been avoided.
Unbelievable. I would have done the same thing as Mr Correa, although maybe I would have loudly told the flight attendant in business class I was about to shit all over her. Would that be considered a threat?
According to Correa, flight attendant Stephanie Scott “put up her arm and blocked his entry into business class, according to an FBI affidavit. Correa then grabbed her arm to keep his balance.”
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When have anyone of you onboard, grabbed a flight attendant to keep your balance?
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However, Scott’s statement and corroboration from a witness who was a pilot for another airline gave the FBI probable cause to charge Correa with assault.
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Seen any articles from any witnesses onboard this flight, defending Mr Correa’s actions?
Without knowing the full story….
Correa is guilty of assault. But the airline is guilty of creating a situation where a desperate man turns to assault. Correa will be punished, and the prosecutors will have an opportunity to crow loudly about the effectiveness of new laws that “protect aviation.” The airline will bear no responsibility.
You know there had to be more witnesses that “a pilot from another airline”. If that is all the FBI has as witnesses, they are only trying to support the FA side of the story instead of getting all of the facts.
The pilot is going to backup the FA. He/She would not want word to get back that he backed up a passenger over flight crew member, even if it was not his crew. That is like asking a cop if another cops actions were out of line. Their answer will be of course not.
Just my opinion.
Sounds to me like this whole situation could have been avoided. When people travel, their systems often react and they can get Montezuma’s revenge. And quite honestly, it is an awkward thing to discuss, but flight crews need to understand that sometimes, when you gotta go, you gotta go. I’ve seen people “let by” a cart on numerous occasions. I understand how they enforce the rule about the business class bathrooms, but letting someone past a beverage cart is pretty routine.
It depends on how big the guy is. I’m sure he was looking for the quickest way to the restroom. There’s no way a seriously overweight person with a bathroom emergency could get past a beverage cart without losing it. He should have just put on his best distressed face and explained his situation as quickly as possible. Some of these airline employees, however (and notice, I say SOME), have no compassion for “the enemy.”
The story above says that Stewardess “Scott called the pilot who talked to Correa. The pilot let Correa use the bathroom in business class.”
The captain of the aircraft is the final authority while in flight. If he gave his permission, that should have ended the matter.
Once on the ground, there was no reason for the incident to be mentioned again, except for spiteful purposes. Aircraft crews take a lot of abuse from passengers, but this time, it seems that Scott abused her position.
As for the passenger, hasn’t he already been punished enough? First by the likely humiliation and second by the days in jail.
As a nation of basically decent people, how much more damage do we want to do to ourselves in the name of preventing terrorism?
Mr. Correa lives across the street from my home in Concord, Ohio.
My family and his are very good friends, our daughters are best friends. Futher more the Correa’s are a solid Christian family and solid members of their community.
I’ve never seen Joao do or say anything that resembles the comments from the Flight Attendant.
I hope that common sense prevails and Delta is able to find some manners and respect for the travellers they serve.