I am reading and writing the following post from my journal to make sure I state this correctly.
During the early 1980's (April, 1983 to be exact), I took a flight from NYC to San Francisco non stop. We were cruising at an altitude of 38,000 ft. It was a clear, sunny day, winds were 5-8 kts. out of the SE. San Francisco was reporting a temperature of 62° with partly cloudy skies and 7 miles of visibility and a clear ceiling.
I received a call on the plane's intercom phone line from the Purser telling me that there was a disturbance in the middle of the cabin. I asked her what was the issue. She said that she wasn't sure, but they were all upset with a young, white man and wanted me to ask you to land the plane immediately and have him removed from the plane.
I sent the First Officer (F/O) back to where the noise was coming from and investigate and report back to me. He (the F/O) was gone for eight minutes before returning to the flight deck and advised me that the young man that was being harassed by the other passengers because he told the lady that he was sitting beside that he had AIDS and was going to San Francisco to be treated.
The lady in turn told one of the Flight Attendants (F/A) and was overheard by another passenger while she was explaining the situation to the Purser. This news spread very quickly throughout the cabin and was the reason for the outburst by the passengers. I contacted United corporate and explained the situation. Their advice was for me to tell the passengers that AIDS cannot be spread through the air. We are not going to land the plane, but because we do have a row of seats available to re-seat this young man, we will "request" that he does. Lucky for us, he agreed to comply with our request and this ended the incident.
We landed in San Francisco with no further issues.
During the early 1980's (April, 1983 to be exact), I took a flight from NYC to San Francisco non stop. We were cruising at an altitude of 38,000 ft. It was a clear, sunny day, winds were 5-8 kts. out of the SE. San Francisco was reporting a temperature of 62° with partly cloudy skies and 7 miles of visibility and a clear ceiling.
I received a call on the plane's intercom phone line from the Purser telling me that there was a disturbance in the middle of the cabin. I asked her what was the issue. She said that she wasn't sure, but they were all upset with a young, white man and wanted me to ask you to land the plane immediately and have him removed from the plane.
I sent the First Officer (F/O) back to where the noise was coming from and investigate and report back to me. He (the F/O) was gone for eight minutes before returning to the flight deck and advised me that the young man that was being harassed by the other passengers because he told the lady that he was sitting beside that he had AIDS and was going to San Francisco to be treated.
The lady in turn told one of the Flight Attendants (F/A) and was overheard by another passenger while she was explaining the situation to the Purser. This news spread very quickly throughout the cabin and was the reason for the outburst by the passengers. I contacted United corporate and explained the situation. Their advice was for me to tell the passengers that AIDS cannot be spread through the air. We are not going to land the plane, but because we do have a row of seats available to re-seat this young man, we will "request" that he does. Lucky for us, he agreed to comply with our request and this ended the incident.
We landed in San Francisco with no further issues.
