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Galley Gossip: Flight attendants under investigation for bomb threat
It happened a few seconds after the Captain on my flight from Miami to New York introduced himself and then asked if I had brewed a pot of coffee. I had, in fact. I always do whenever I'm working the galley. I poured him a cup and told him my name as we boarded a full flight on a 757.
After taking a sip, he whipped off his hat and hung it on a hook against the back of the cockpit door. Nonchalantly he said, "Did you hear about the bomb threat today?"
Immediately I stopped counting meals, chicken with rice and cheese tortellini, and spun around to face him. "What happened?"
"A flight attendant found a note in the lavatory. It said there was a bomb on board the flight." And with that he was gone, too busy chatting away with a mechanic who had stepped into the cockpit.
Of course the first thing that came to mind when the pilot uttered those two oh-so-innocent words, "flight attendant", was oh no, please don't let it be a flight attendant who wrote the note. The next thing I thought was, I wonder if the crew was on reserve.
The only reason I suspected the crew was because something similar had happened a few years back. Even in that case, so many years ago, when I heard on the news that the flight attendant under investigation had been on reserve when she left a note in the lav, I had to laugh. Just because being on reserve does make one a little bit crazy. At times. But usually not that crazy, not bomb writing crazing of course!
When I mentioned to a friend, and lawyer, what had happened on the American Airlines flight from Boston to Miami, as well as whom I hoped the suspects would not turn out to be, he said, "Tell me, how does 'we will get fired' 'we will go to prison' get left out of the thought process before writing that kind of note?"
Good question.
Then I reminded him, as well as myself, that the flight attendants in question are innocent until proven guilty.
Two days later I am now unhappy to report that what I had prayed would not be the case seems to be kinda-sorta happening. The crew is now officially under investigation. The details are as follows...
- A flight attendant found a message scrawled on the bathroom cabinet that read, "Bomb on board - Boston-Miami"
- The aircraft was evacuated and luggage was searched by a bomb sniffing dog at an isolated area at Logan Airport. No bomb was found
- FBI interrogated two crew members; a male and female flight attendant
- Passengers were transferred to another flight and continued on to Miami
And here's the kicker, the same two flight attendants under investigation for this bomb threat were on another flight from Miami to Boston just two weeks ago when a similar bomb threat was found. I kid you not.
Again, innocent until proven guilty.
But if these two are guilty, just how dumb are they to do it (period) on two different flights they're crewing - two weeks apart! Do you think maybe, just maybe, they might be dating? I mean how else do two people get involved in something like this? Or do you think they're roommates? Best friends? Or two disgruntled coworkers who just so happened to hold the same line last month? Seriously, what do you think?
Photo courtesy of Purplemattfish
Filed under: United States, Airlines, Transportation, Galley Gossip
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
nzm Oct 4th 2009 10:59AM
They must have taken tips from the Emirates' FA who did the same thing on a DXB-LGW flight:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE54K4HX20090521
It's a pity that they didn't pay attention to what happened to him.
Sandra Oct 4th 2009 10:57AM
Heather - I'm with you: I certainly hope that it turns out not to have been the flight attendants in this case. None of you needs any of that negative press that will surely ensue regarding attendants' general rude and now sociopathic behaviour! I fly frequently internationally, so my experience with the attendants is a longer one each time than a BOS/MIA flight, with all the extra work that entails. I've never had one questionable experience with any of them, though I have seen numerous complaints on this board. I can't agree with the other poster's statement that it's a shame whoever it was that did this didn't pay attention to what happened to the attendant who left the note on the Emirates flight: I think he definitely deserved the punishment meted out to him. In this instance, I'd far prefer it were a disguntled passenger than a well-trained attendant who committed this bizarre act, and I certainly have seen many of those!
nzm Oct 4th 2009 10:55AM
Sandra:
I never said that I didn't agree with Matthew's punishment - where did you get that idea from?
Geoff Oct 6th 2009 1:49AM
To be honest, I would be completely unsurprised if any of the first 4 options in the poll turned out to be true - but given the sheer stupidity of what was done, I'd have to vote "who cares"... IF it turns out to be the attendants in question who did this, then frankly I don't care what sort of relationship they have - I'd just want to see them held accountable for their actions, and never be allowed to be in a position where this could happen again.
That said, I too honestly hope that it turns out the attendants are not to blame - as Sandra has already said, the negative press that FAs will undoubtedly have to put up with because of this is something that none of you need, or deserve...
frank96 Oct 6th 2009 12:36PM
awww, now I'm bummed.
I picked up the USAToday this morning and was pleasantly surprised to see a "GOOD" article on Flight Attendants. Now this.
But, in reality, every occupation has it's 5 percent that makes us all look bad.
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2009-10-05-flight-attendants-medical-aid_N.htm
Bother way, today marks the one year anniversary of my inflight incident with the AED. What a shock to open the paper this morning and read this article of all days. You know that saying, it happened for a reason.
And, I'm thinking the same for these two flight attendants. They created their own circumstances and now it's out of their control. This will be a HUGE regret in both their lives. Some people just need to resign.
Ron Oct 6th 2009 7:22PM
Yeah this is weird, wasn't it also a Boston based FA who pulled this a few years ago, on the same route. Now Heather, you've mentioned how awful the JFK-MIA flights are, perhaps the Boston ones are worse? But honestly, who would even think of this, I mean, what ever happened to calling out sick?