Passenger canned by JetBlue

While he might have expected a few less frills when his buddy that worked at JetBlue gave him a "buddy pass" to fly on the airline, Gokhan Mutlu was probably not thinking that he would be canned by the airline.

Back in mid February Mutlu flew from New York to San Deigo on what JetBlue Airlines calls a "buddy pass", a standby travel voucher that employees of the airline can give to their friends. On February 23rd Mutlu boarded a return flight in San Deigo for the five hour trip back to New York.

Court papers state that 90 minutes into the flight, Mutlu was asked to relinquish his seat to a flight attendant that found the jump seat she was sitting in to be too uncomfortable for her. The catch? Mutlu could not simply trade seats with the attendant because, according to the court papers, the pilot said that area was for employees of the airline only. So, what was Mutlu told? ..."go 'hang out' in the bathroom"...

Yup, according to the court papers, Mutlu was told to go sit in the bathroom so a flight attendant could have his more comfy seat. Mutlu claimed in the court papers that the pilot told him "he was the pilot, that this was his plane, under his command that (Mutlu) should be grateful for being on board."

Some time later another flight attendant apparently knocked on the bathroom door and advised Mutlu that he could return to his seat. Mutlu filed papers on Friday in Manhattan's state Supreme Court stating that JetBlue negligently endangered him (making him sit in seat without safety belts) and is seeking more than $2 million dollars.