United Airlines Passenger Slapped With Huge Fine For Hitting Flight Attendant

Having time to be an ass does not mean you have to be.

Only if you're ass already: plenty of people are able not be asses on 13-hour flights...

Not necessarily. Some employment contracts specifically limit employees abilities to sue for something that happens while on the clock.

I agree, as a diabetic I realize that travel, drinking, and insulin can result in a severe low blood glucose and a bad time for all. He made a serious judgement error that may have affected his judgement.

It is possible that he was already having the diabetic problem before he started wanting drinks. I know from past experiences-not mine that there can be serious consequences if thins get too far out of balance..

According to the court documents for Case No.: 3:20-mj-00054-MMS

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff
vs.
SEKSAN KUMTONG, Defendant

A criminal complaint (charge) was filed against Mr. Kumtong was for violating 49 U.S.C. § 46504 - Interference with Flight Crew Members and Attendants. He plea bargained the case down to a $50,000.00 fine (not a civil penalty.) No jail time but it's on his record forever. No TSA Precheck for him.

United and the crewmember(s) involved may, and still could, seek civil damages against Mr. Kumtong now that the criminal case is over.

The whole story is about his plea to criminal charges. Do you mean that he should have faced more serious charges?

Let the public lynching begin!

I'm a heavy pilot. Could disagree with you more. The issues with disruptive passengers is very very low for the number of flights. They just trend more in the news. For long haul the combination of high cabin altitude and a drink puts most passengers to sleep. I can't imagine doing a 10 hour flight with pax struggling to get some sleep. I can bet as a whole they will be more cranky. That's from a non drinker myself

Punish the individual and not the group. There is way too much of "We need more rules to fix everything", rather than just use the tools we have, the way they were meant to be used, and move on. The rule is you don't mess with a flight attendant, the same way you don't mess with an umpire. A stiff fine, and make it stick in the courts and move on. You can't fix everybody.

Okay. I was on an American Airlines plane, and one flight attendant was having a 'bad day', and had yelled at several people. She ended up yelling at me too. One of the other attendants shot her a look, but she was unstoppable. She kept yelling at other passengers too.

So, someone has a bad day, they should be able to take out their crappy life on everyone on the plane they choose? I think not. Thank Ford she didn't have a gun. She was getting a little too hostile.

I used to be a fan of 'Zero Tolerance'. But I have observed that when the philosophy is actually practiced, in reality it becomes 'judging without a heart or a brain.'

Seriously? No alchohol served on flights?! You gotta be kidding. How about we hold the individual accountable instead of punishing everyone. This is the same logic I ran into while in the military and it drove me insane. Punish me for his actions and you think that is going to result in increased morale and teamwork... You just made me hate the people I work with even more!! Now you are gonna punish the majority of responsible adults because an assole acted up? Please, rethink this position. You just hurt the responsible individual and the drunks will still get a bottle from Duty Free and end up shitfaced before we hit cruise.

If some people won't get your message unless we add capital punishment to the penalties that one faces for bad behaviors, would that be OK, too?

Judging others is not as easy as you make it out to be. Unless one is ruled by raw emotion. Then it is 'easy'.

I'm betting that you are an armchair judge, not a real one.

You cant assault anyone at walmart either. That was not comlaining

Lay a hand on a crew member or a friend and you can call it whatever you want.