A senior vice president shifted in his chair. "Margaret, the purser has been removed pending investigation. We are cooperating fully."
"Good. That addresses a possible individual violation. What are we doing about the conditions that made it possible?"
Elias opened his folder. He said that the company had secured the seat-change history, the call-button logs, Miller's original incident report, the revision timestamps, and accounts from crew and passengers. No onboard surveillance recording was available, and the investigators would not pretend otherwise. They had also asked Thomas Bell for a statement and received a reply before dawn.
Thomas's message was simple. He wrote that turbulence had frightened him badly, that Margaret stayed seated and coached him through his breathing, and that he had heard no insult or refusal to follow safety instructions. He included his occupation and contact information, then added a note at the end: "The older woman helped me. She did not cause the problem. Please don't make her the problem because it is easier." Elias read that sentence aloud, and nobody in the room spoke for several seconds afterward.
Renata Soto then described what the investigators had found in the incident-report history. Miller had created the first report shortly after turbulence, entered the allegations of hostile conduct, and added a seat-belt violation after Chloe declined to sign. His initial statement had omitted Taylor's request for the neighboring seat. The cabin-service device showed repeated updates to the narrative fields, but no independent witness confirmation beyond Miller's name.
"Is there any indication that Mrs. Davis was actually unable to perform exit-row duties?" an executive asked.
"None supported by the gate assessment or witness accounts," Renata said. "Age alone was not a sufficient basis. If a crew member has a specific, observed concern about a passenger's capacity, the concern must be evaluated and documented. No such observation appears in this case."
"And the no-fly recommendation?"
"An internal restricted-travel review was requested, but it was stopped before any passenger restriction was applied. The report cannot be used to impose a sanction while its factual basis is disputed."
Margaret leaned forward. "Remember that last point. How many people without someone checking might already have had restrictions placed on them because a report sounded confident?"
No one answered immediately. Elias asked the service division for its complaint figures. A vice president opened a dashboard showing complaints as percentages, categories, and recovery rates. The overall picture looked reassuring: most cases were closed within forty-eight hours, refunds were rare, and the majority of passengers did not make a second complaint. Margaret studied the numbers, then asked for the actual closed case files rather than the summary.
The vice president hesitated. "That's several thousand records."
"Then start with those naming Grant Miller," she said. "And expand from there if the evidence warrants it."