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A few months ago I made a trip over to Europe to visit my brother studying in England. During the flight, there was an event that occurred that made me feel uncomfortable; enough so that upon returning to the U.S. I wrote a letter to Continental describing the experience. It’s a bit lengthy, but I believe it’ll be worth your read.

Hello-

I am writing about a concern I had on a previous Continental flight. I have been flying every 2-3 months for the past 2 years, and I have almost always chosen to fly with Continental. The service, pricing, and enjoyment of my experiences have been unmatched by other carriers. This is why the following incident alarmed me, and greatly rattles my confidence that I once had with Continental.

It is without a doubt that the happenings of September 11th run through every customer’s mind as they prepare to travel in the air. Even I, who have been a somewhat frequent flier with no issues in the past, still get a bit nervous boarding a plane as it takes off and lands. It is this mindset that I believe I, along with many other customers, take onto such flights. The problem occurred while on my red-eye flight to London. I was seated in the first row of economy and had just been served breakfast. The flight attendants continued to serve the rest of the cabin as they made their way to the back of the plane. During this time a gentleman, clearly of Muslim decent, gets up from the row behind me with a bag of clothes and enters the kitchen area which is located directly in front of me, and shuts the curtain. Almost immediately I take note of this action, as it is thought that this area is off limits to the passengers. I continue to peek my head out the aisle, trying to see what this man is doing. It becomes apparent that he is changing (as I assumed, into the clothes that were in the bag). I begin to think that this man is taking part in some form of prayer related to his religion. I am not impartial to those who choose to believe what they do, and wasn’t really offended by the thought of what he could be doing. But what happened next effected me quite differently. While watching the rustling of the curtain and getting glimpses of inside, the man then pops his head out and looks down the aisle into first class. If this wasn’t alarming enough, the man was wearing a full-head piece and fully clothed in his religious outfit that was far from familiar to me. Now, again, I was trying to be reasonable with the situation and not get too discomforted. But all things aside, it is normal for American passengers to have some sort of fear attached to flying in an airplane. What made the situation worse was the fact that the entire flight attendant crew was now at the back of the plane, still serving breakfast and apparently oblivious to what was taking place in front of me. This, in combination with the gentleman sticking his head out into first-class dressed as he was, led me to thinking that he could perhaps be planning some kind of attack to the front of the plane.

The reason for writing was that I was discomforted by how these events unfolded. I broke a sweat for twenty minutes and my heart was pounding. I had my seat belt off and plastic knife in hand, ready to jump and take action if in fact this man made some kind of move. It turns out that all he was doing was taking time for prayer, and that the flight attendants even knew that this was taking place, acknowledging him when they got back up to the front of the plane. I made light of the situation, telling myself that my thoughts were perhaps out of line However, upon returning to the U.S. and replaying the incident in my head several times, I feel as though I was perhaps not too far off. I was literally on the edge of my seat ready to take action. What if I hadn’t waited and had proceeded to go at this mysterious man behind the curtain? I’m not saying I would have gotten to this point, personally. But I can’t say the same for others.. others who are maybe more suspicious, a little more on edge, and a little less trust-worthy than I had been.

This issue raised concerns for my safety as well as my enjoyment on the flight. If I had been made aware that this was going to take place, or if a flight attendant simply acknowledged the man before he went behind the curtain, I would have been much more at ease. Ultimately, I found that although Continental was certainly catering to this man’s personal needs, they failed to consider the well-being, safety, and comfort of all their customers who may have been effected by such action. Unfortunately, this situation will linger in my mind when choosing who to fly with on my next trip.

Thank you for your time,

Jason Koontz

I hope that the letter proved that I was trying not to be judgmental and stay as level minded as possible. After all, none of my fears actually came to life. After a week or two, a Continental representative got back to me with a response:

Dear Mr. Koontz:

Thank you for your email and I extend my sincerest apologies to you for the inconvenience you experienced.

Comments and suggestions from our customers are valuable measures of our performance.  We want to be your airline of choice, and your thoughts help to point us in the right direction to assist our management team as we continue to make positive changes within our organization.

However, please know that it is not Continental Airlines policy to inform the entire aircraft when a passenger is going into prayer.  The arrangements are made between the flight attendants and the passenger on a specific time that they would convene to pray.

Please be assured, it is never our intention to cause any distress of any kind.  Continental Airlines is a clean, safe, and reliable airline.  We will continue to work hard to provide the quality products and services our customers expect.

Thank you for choosing Continental Airlines.

Regards,
Tracy McGlothen
Customer Care Manager

I was hoping for a bit more of an understanding of the circumstances in the response, yet there was no much more I could have hoped for.. 10 days later, Christmas Day, there was the incident of the man who attempted to set off an explosive on the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. A fellow passenger aboard the flight actually took matters into his own hands and reacted, possibly preventing the man from further destruction.

The correlation between this event and my experience are actually quite close. In the world we live in today, no one can be too careful. We cannot assume; assume that one is guilty before action, nor assume ones innocence. It is a difficult balance in which I don’t think everyone in this world completely grasps. It is the difference between Northwest Airlines thanking its customer for being so alert and taking action, and Continental bringing up charges on me, who also chose to take action, except in this case was the man was actually in prayer and not plotting to blow up the plane. It was lucky that I did not take that situation on my flight any further. But I do have to fault Continental for being a bit ignorant. Ignorant because there is such a fine line between being a hero and being a victim. How is someone suppose to live in a world where there is such a tough balance? I’d love to hear your responses.. leave a comment or tell @continental what you think yourself with a tweet or two.