有人在機艙大小便時 你能索賠嗎 What Can Airline Passengers Do About Bad Behavior
On Friday, CNN reported that a JetBlue passenger en route from Anchorage to Portland, Ore., stood up and urinated on passengers sitting in front of him and others around him. When the plane landed, he was arrested by Portland police, charged with criminal mischief and offensive littering, two misdemeanors, and later released.
星期五，CNN報道一位搭乘捷藍航空公司(JetBlue)飛機的旅客在從安克雷奇飛往俄勒岡州波特蘭的途中站起身來向坐在前排和周圍的旅客身上小便。飛機降落時，他被波特蘭警方逮捕，遭到刑事惡作劇和冒犯性亂丟物品兩項輕罪起訴，後被釋放。
In the annals of bad flights, this one certainly ranks among the most disgusting, but it is not a total outlier. Days later, an American Airlines flight from Miami to Chicago was diverted, according to the ABC affiliate in Chicago, because of a passenger’s “erratic” behavior that witnesses said involved kicking a seat, kissing a flight attendant and then punching her in the face. What — if anything — can travelers do about this kind of behavior? We asked Gary Leff, co-founder of , a frequent flier discussion site, to weigh in. The following are edited excerpts from a conversation with Mr. Leff.
在各種不良飛行記錄中，這件事可以算是比較噁心的，但還不是那麼出格。幾天後，一次從邁阿密飛往芝加哥的航班被迫轉向，根據ABC臺在芝加哥的分支報道，是因爲一名乘客“古怪”的行爲，據目擊者說，他踢椅子，親吻空姐，然後又打她的臉。萬一在飛機上遇到這種事，旅客們該怎麼辦？我們請飛機旅客討論網站的聯合創始人加里·萊夫(Gary Leff)發表一下意見。以下內容來自與萊夫先生的對話，經過編輯和節選。
Q: Do fliers have any recourse when exposed to such bad behavior in the air?
問：乘客們如果在飛行時遇到這種惡劣的事件，有什麼追索權？
A. They wouldn’t have any more recourse, really, if it happened at a sports stadium. People behave badly all the time, and as gross as this is, it’s a relatively minor thing to pursue recourse over. Anyone doing this is probably relatively judgment-proof anyway, so no, you don’t have much recourse.
答：如果這種事發生在體育館裏，其實也沒有什麼追索權。總有那種表現惡劣的人，儘管很糟糕，但要去追索賠償，這種事又顯得太小。能幹出這種事的人又多少有可能不具備履行判決的能力。所以，對，乘客沒有什麼追索的權利。
If you sense something is not right with your seatmate, what can you do?
問：如果你覺得旁邊坐着的人有點不對勁，那你該怎麼辦？
It depends on how “not right” it is. The only thing you can do is inform the crew. If it’s reasonably minor, your hope is that there’s a free seat somewhere on plane and they can move you to it. If the plane is full, you can fly in your seat or hope to divert, but the crew will divert only in really serious situations. That’s up to the pilot’s judgment. In any place where it’s not completely full, consult with the crew to change seats. The first incident happened within 30 minutes of landing so there wasn’t going to be somewhere to divert quickly. They were almost there. If it happened early in the flight they could have wound up diverting the flight.
答：這取決於對方有多“不對勁”。你唯一能做的事就是通知乘務人員。如果事情確實很小，你就只能指望飛機上還有多餘的座位，讓乘務人員幫你換位子。如果飛機滿員了，你就只能呆在自己的座椅上，或者指望飛機備降，但機組人員只有在非常嚴重的情況下才會這麼做。而且這取決於飛行員的判斷。如果飛機上還有空位，你可以和乘務人員商量要求換位子。第一件事（乘客小便）發生時，飛機還有不到30分鐘就要降落了，所以沒有備降。目的地馬上就要到了。如果事情發生在飛機起飛不久，他們可能會備降。
How common are indignities of this caliber in-flight?
問：飛行中這種程度的冒犯舉動經常發生嗎?
This is very uncommon. There’s no question people behave badly on planes because there are lots of people in a confined space and there are people who behave badly everywhere. So we do see altercations everywhere in the sky, whether it’s the guy who brings the [Knee] Defender on and gets in a fight with person in front of him because he can’t recline his seat. But I’ve also seen bad behavior in premium cabins; it’s not just a function of economy travel.
答：這麼糟糕的事並不是經常發生的。不過，人們在飛機上常常會表現惡劣，因爲那麼多人處在一個狹小的空間，而且還有人無論走到哪兒表現都很惡劣。所以我們也經常看到飛機上有人吵架，有人帶着膝蓋捍衛者(Knee Defender，一種令前座的椅背無法放倒的小玩意——編注)上飛機，結果前座的人沒法把靠背放倒，雙方大動干戈。但是我也見過頭等艙裏有人表現惡劣，糟糕的行爲並不是經濟艙的專利。
If you are urinated on or in some way your property is damaged by another traveler, can you seek compensation from the airline or were you just unlucky?
問：如果你被尿到身上了，或者你的物品被其他旅客毀壞了，你能從航空公司獲得賠償嗎，還是隻能認倒黴？
You were probably just unlucky. As long as it’s not a member of the crew, the airline doesn’t owe you anything. They are not actually at fault. They might offer a good-will gesture because you had a bad experience on their airline and they want to win back your business. You are more likely to get one based on your frequency of travel because they are interested in preserving the relationship. But you’re not likely to have a successful lawsuit against an airline for being urinated on.
答：很可能只能認倒黴。如果你不是機組成員，航空公司就不欠你什麼。這並不是他們的錯。他們可能會對你做出一些善意的表示，因爲你在乘坐他們的航班時遇到了不好的體驗，他們想挽回你這個乘客。你得到的待遇很可能和你乘機出行的頻率有關，因爲他們只對和你保持客戶關係感興趣。但你如果因爲被小便淋了就起訴航空公司，多半是不會勝訴的。
