Pilot Made Man Sit on Airplane Toilet for 3 Hours



Gokhan Mutlu of Manhattan is suing JetBlue Airways for $2 million because a pilot made him sit on the toilet for 3 hours!

Mutlu was traveling on a a "buddy pass," a standby travel voucher that JetBlue employees give to friends, from New York to San Diego on Feb. 16, and returned to New York on Feb. 23, the lawsuit said.

Initially, Mutlu was told a flight attendant had taken the last seat on the plane, but then he was advised she would sit in the employee "jump seat," meaning he could have the last seat, the lawsuit said.

The pilot told him 1½ hours into the five-hour flight that he would have to relinquish the seat to the flight attendant, court papers say. But the pilot said that Mutlu could not sit in the jump seat because only JetBlue employees were permitted to sit there, the lawsuit said.

When Mutlu expressed reluctance to go sit in the bathroom, the pilot, who was not named in the lawsuit, told him that "he was the pilot, that this was his plane, under his command that (Mutlu) should be grateful for being on board," the lawsuit said.

When the aircraft hit turbulence and passengers were directed to return to their seats, but "the plaintiff had no seat to return to, sitting on a toilet stool with no seat belts," court papers say.

Link (Photo: Wikipedia )


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Posted on May 13, 2008 at 1:18 pm by Alex
Category: Car & Vehicle, Crime & Law



23 comments to "Pilot Made Man Sit on Airplane Toilet for 3 Hours"

  • Christophe
    May 13th, 2008 at 1:52 pm

    Maybe he should be glad the turbulences were not that important…

  • Jake D.
    May 13th, 2008 at 2:10 pm

    That’s got to suck. I mean, there’s not even a t.v. on the toilet seat.

  • Sid Morrison
    May 13th, 2008 at 2:22 pm

    $2 million ? Come on… what a crock. Throw it out of court, judge. The guy was traveling gratis and suffered no real damage or injury. I’ll agree the pilot made some dumb choices (it would have been better/safer to break the “jump seat for employees only ” rule than make him sit on the crapper for hours), but it’s insane for the company or its shareholders to be punitively punished to the extent the plaintiff is requesting.

  • Mary F
    May 13th, 2008 at 2:29 pm

    I live in Milwaukee- home of Midwest Airlines. This is exactly why we put up such a fight when JetBlue tried a hostile takeover in our backyard.

  • Mary F
    May 13th, 2008 at 2:33 pm

    Also- providing passengers with safety belts is a federal law. The full article mentions that they only made him move because a stewardess said she was uncomfortable. They shouldn’t have let him on the plane if they didn’t have room, but since they did let him on, they should have provided for him like every other passenger.

  • bean
    May 13th, 2008 at 2:57 pm

    This is such an outlandish story that I’m going to wait until the other side tells their version before judging.

  • phoenix
    May 13th, 2008 at 3:09 pm

    I’m with Mary F here - this is what happens when airlines ridiculously overbook flights and there aren’t enough seats to go around. The airline violated federal law by allowing more people on than they could properly and safely seat, but that’s a matter between the airline and the FAA.

    I do have to admit though, 2 million bucks is a lot of money for someone flying gratis and, like Sid said, suffered no real monetary damages. And his emotional damage could be easily repaired with a free ticket to whatever his eventual destination is - maybe even in first class, since I totally understand that it must have sucked for him to be in the bathroom like that.

  • Parker
    May 13th, 2008 at 3:32 pm

    Gratis isn’t an invitation to be treated like crap..especially illegally. Yes it’s a large sum but isn’t that what gets corporations to start following the rules? You break the rules, you get punished. They’re incredibly lucky the guy wasn’t injured.

  • L
    May 13th, 2008 at 4:00 pm

    People say $2 million is too much. I think it’s a matter of being taken seriously. If he’d just sued for the price of the ticket, say, he probably wouldn’t have gotten very far. It’s harder to ignore a big lawsuit!

    I have to agree with Mary F, too. If there wasn’t room on the plane for this guy, they should have decided that before they took off.. not after!

  • andrewdoane
    May 13th, 2008 at 4:36 pm

    Some friend that pilot is.

  • Evilbeagle
    May 13th, 2008 at 4:55 pm

    Thing is, airlines need to be put in their place. 2 million may seem like a lot, but these are the same airlines that are getting away with mistreating and fleecing paying customers every single day. Not only did they break federal law, but making someone sit in an airplane toilet for three hours is just wrong. I hope that this guy gets his 2 mil and then some.

  • Justin
    May 13th, 2008 at 5:51 pm

    Can you imagine how embarrassing it would for you if the captain and crew came up to and in front of everyone made you leave your seat and sit in the bathroom?

    This isn’t about whether this guy was hurt emotionally or physically, but is about punishing an airline for treating its passengers like cargo.

    I’m not one to promote frivolous law suits, but this is just outlandish.

  • oakling
    May 13th, 2008 at 6:15 pm

    Damn straight. They can’t treat a passenger differently for having a free ticket. This isn’t about him wasting money, it’s about him having to ride in an unsafe, stinky airline bathroom, and about them changing the rules on him once he was in the air, and so much more. All they’re doing by treating him differently is showing us how they would like to be treating all their passengers….

  • Louisa
    May 13th, 2008 at 7:27 pm

    I have a very hard time believing this story.

  • Louisa
    May 13th, 2008 at 9:47 pm

    I’m sorry but this description had me rolling.
    http://dlisted.com/node/25889

  • darksider
    May 13th, 2008 at 10:23 pm

    Lesson of this story… put seatbeats on the toilets!

  • Archbob
    May 13th, 2008 at 11:25 pm

    Thats why I call a super-value flight. But $2 million? Come on, maybe like $1000, but not $2 million

  • Amuseal
    May 14th, 2008 at 1:03 am

    RLOL

    This guy should be very grateful to fly for free! If one wants to have everything included, he has to spend some money on it.

    Complete fool :)

  • LaLa
    May 14th, 2008 at 1:23 am

    Ask for $2 Million, get $200,000. He’s working the system. Why not?

  • Evilbeagle
    May 14th, 2008 at 3:21 am

    I am against the frivolous lawsuit, but this is not someone suing the city for their kid stepping in dog poo. This is an airline stepping way over the line. What next?

  • Capella
    May 14th, 2008 at 7:22 am

    Jeez, there goes a really nice airline.
    People need to stop whining, and expecting companies dish out millions because of their “emotional suffering”.
    Someone should show him what real suffering and endangerment is.

  • Thomas
    May 14th, 2008 at 10:01 am

    Wow, that’s pretty crass of you Capella. You shouldn’t threaten people on the internet because you don’t think people are entitled to sue when laws are broken.

    If you went to the police about someone hitting your car, would you expect them to respond, “well did you get thrown from your windshield into oncoming traffic where you lost your legs? No? Not worth our time.”

    Sometimes you have to make a lot of noise to get something done. Also, I don’t think Jet Blue was that nice to start with.

  • Viola
    May 14th, 2008 at 11:37 pm

    I’d sit on a crapper for three hours if it meant getting a free ride.


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