http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Florida-Professor-Arrested-for-Having-aSuspicious-Bagel-on-a-Plane-112825029.html

The case has brought to mind a few bad experiences of my own however: Something to think about is how the judgment and witness statements of cabin and flight crew can impact a person’s freedom and reputation. The traveling public should do their best to comply with rules and crewmember instructions; most are written in blood from past mishaps. If you are having a bad/unreasonable experience due to a crewmember, remain calm and compliant. Wait until outside the jurisdiction of the crewmember and TSA to contact the company and make a objective report about the bad experience. Don’t settle for getting the brush-off with a free ticket or something. If you were wronged, insist on communication with a high company officer about the matter. (Make a police report if it was criminal misconduct.) Crew members who rack up several complaints get negative employer attention.

As far as I know? Cabin and flight crewmembers are not held to account for errors in their performance-of-duty in the same way as in other societal venues, such as a restaurant/bar/roadrage/etc. Nor are they personally held accountable in the event of some kind of malpractice such as injury from turbulence associated with a decision to skirt too near a thunderstorm. Yes they may get investigated, retrained, or maybe fired, but the payout comes from the company. I think this is good, and makes use of common sense. It allows the crewmember to make the call on the spot without the worry of “what if” the lawyers have thrust into daily life. I do wish or society made better use of this simpler process.

However I caution the captain and crewmembers that the the federal shield of “safety” is not flawless… and it may be more than a panel of experts you answer too if you error in ambiguous situations. The traveling public is getting very cranky now that we might have a dirty rubber glove exam before getting to your aircraft. At some point in the future, the lawyers will probably find their way to the flightdeck. Since the relationship with the employer is not at all as warm and fuzzy as it was in the good-ol-days… I predict crewmembers will need to carry insurance much like doctors and nurses do. This might be prevented by careful self-policing of those crewmembers in your ranks who push the limits just because the feel invulnerable. The police have identified a problem they call “contempt of cop” which often leads to bad cop behavior. I’ve seen this happen with air crews as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt_of_cop

Fly Safe!