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Galley Gossip: Flight attendant fights with a passenger, escapes down the emergency slide and then drives home
When dealing with unruly passengers, flight attendants are taught a few different techniques to diffuse a situation, one of which is to separate yourself from the passenger and let another coworker step in and try to handle it. A new face is new energy. This alone can calm passengers down. While most flight attendants will simply escape to the galley, one flight attendant actually opened an emergency door, popped the slide, grabbed two beers, and slid down the chute. Once on the tarmac he ran into the terminal and eventually made his way to his car. He drove home to his residence in Queens where I imagine he left his crew bags beside the front door, loosened his tie, and popped open one of the beers and chugged it down. (Burp!) All this after a JetBlue passenger refused to apologize after accidentally striking him with luggage.
I have to admit that if a passenger had hit me with luggage I would have liked an apology, too. Though I don't think I would have demanded one. That said, if that same passenger had told me to F-Off! I, too, might have been tempted to pick up the PA and direct the same obscenity to the dude with the potty mouth over the intercom system for all to hear. But never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought to pop a slide and make a run for it. Probably because I'd have no idea which way to go! Flight attendants don't spend a lot of time walking around on the tarmac.
This is the kind of thing a flight attendant can only do once in their career. That's because they would no longer have a job to go back to. Certainly this JetBlue flight attendant knew that before making his dramatic escape. Which got me thinking, is there a better way to go?
When I mentioned this to Shannon, an ex flight attendant friend, she said she wishes she had thought of it first. "Seriously, why didn't I do that on my last flight! Blow the slide, throw out my bags, a few bottles of wine from first class, leave my badge behind and walk across the tarmac waving goodbye on my way to the parking shuttle. Oh well."
After a long pause, Shannon added, "It would be extra classy and fun to pop open some champagne and drink it straight from the bottle as you wave to the plane."
That's a flight attendant fantasy if I ever heard one. My friend Jane agreed. She's not a flight attendant but she now wishes her job had an emergency chute at work.
As much as we'd all might like to go out in a blaze of glory, the reality is this flight attendant cost the airline a lot of money. Not just because it costs $25,000 to repack a slide, but because now the airplane has to be taken out of service and who knows how many flights will now have to be canceled. After drinking those two beers, I wonder if the flight attendant will realize he will now go down in aviation history as the guy who abandoned ship because he got hit in the head with a handbag? Now it's buh-bye job, buh-bye 401K, hello criminal record. Where the heck does one go from there?
Photo courtesy of WexDub
Filed under: Airlines, Galley Gossip
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
James Aug 10th 2010 9:11AM
The flight attendant clearly wasn't getting any respect, and as wild as this seems to be, I wonder how much money Jetblue was making off of him by not having organized labor unions to represent flight attendants, how much they have probably made off of belt tightening, and in general if this FA even has a pension/healthcare. It is interesting that no one has tracked down the passenger and all of the focus is on this FA, since rudeness clearly does not have to be accountable to anyone anymore.
HLH Aug 10th 2010 10:02AM
OK, I admit that was a very, very stupid thing for the flight attendant to do but I admit that I am a TINY bit envious...I am too sensible to do something that "over the top" but I can dream, can't I ????
Monique Aug 10th 2010 10:04AM
I think this was awesome! Haven't we all wanted to do something very similar? To bad he is going to get in trouble over it. I am sure that was not the first time the attendant has been disrespected by a passenger. Sometimes enough is enough and it was probably a better reaction than getting physical back the passenger which I am sure he was very tempted to do.
Norn Aug 10th 2010 10:09AM
We don't know what was building up between he & the passenger...and I've seen my fellow passengers behave APPALLINGLY!!!!
Stains Aug 10th 2010 10:27AM
While we don't know the whole story here, what I do know is that too many flight attendants are rude, arrogant, and condescending. Slater sounds like one of those. I hate flight attendants.
Kelly Aug 10th 2010 11:03AM
I just wonder if it was pre-mediated. That's a helluva stunt to pull off, especially off the cuff. I imagine that's the sort of thing he must have been dreaming about dealing with every ungrateful, rude passenger he came across. Grabbing the beer en route is priceless. MORE POWER TO HIM. Will he get in trouble? Yes. But that has to be one of the best quitting stories ever.
Anna Aug 10th 2010 11:09AM
This is everyone's fantasy when leaving a job they can no longer stand.
MadDog93 Aug 10th 2010 11:41AM
I keep coming back to the following sentence as if it were the spark for this guy's explosion: "I have to admit that if a passenger had hit me with luggage I would have liked an apology, too." How many flight attendants have apologized for hitting a passenger with the drink or food cart? Unfortunately, as a passenger, I cannot even talk back to the flight attendant without the threat of arrest for interfering with a flight. Sorry, this justification is a pig that just won't fly.
Tom Aug 13th 2010 5:32PM
Good for him...I am amazed at the amount of abuse the average FA takes from self absorbed, arrogant and rude passengers; something the average traveller takes from the same people everyday. If I were there, I would have given him a standing ovation.
marie Aug 10th 2010 7:24PM
all i can say is i hope Heather Poole, flight attendant who said she wouldn't think of popping the slide cause she "would probably not know which way to go", is never an attendant on my flight!!
and i can certainly understand Slater's frustration, dealing with some dirt bags that are on these planes after all those years
Jeanette Aug 10th 2010 1:14PM
I was a flight attendant for Northwest "back in the day". Customers were more polite, but so were crew members. I'm 47 now and have seen a huge shift in the industry since my days as a 20-something pushing the beverage cart. I left to raise my family - good choice. My husband and I are fortunate enough to travel as often as we like, and it's a RARE day when we encounter a flight attendant with a pleasant expression on his/her face - let alone any offer of courtesy or customer service. When we fly internationally we usually encounter top notch crews and the service reflects that - but moving coast to coast within the U.S. it's every man for himself. Imagine the customer who was probably met with delayed and overbooked flights (all too common), surly personnel from counter to gate to aircraft. Can't blame the airline for the body cavity check you receive at screening, but it certainly adds to the overall experience. You're finally on board where the airlines have cut every possible comfort and convenience but not the fares.....and THEN some f/a with an attitude (sorry, but a normal person doesn't flip out, grab beer, and pop the slide) starts DEMANDING an apology from you, the paying customer who has been treated like a nuisance from the beginning of the trip? I'm thinking that f/a may have had it coming. That said, there's never any excuse for a customer cursing or shoving a crew member - but maybe, just maybe, JetBlue's Steven Slater was getting back some of what he'd been sending out. I've experienced plenty of flight attendants who seem to forget that the people in the seats are paying their salaries. I can't say that I've truly walked in their shoes. When I flew things were much different, we had more to offer our customers and more options for making them happy. But I have found that no matter what the situation, courtesy and friendliness tend to diffuse it. And to the flight attendants who will scream that no one understands how difficult their jobs are, that they are unappreciated,etc.....get in line behind teachers, nurses, etc. If it's that bad, pop the chute and pursue another line of work. It ain't brain surgery.
Megan Aug 10th 2010 9:50PM
I would love to know who you are flying where the flight attendants are sourly and rude every flight? Really? I am a flight attendant and while I have a bad day every once in a while- I can leave those feelings behind when passengers step on my plane. I always have a smile on my face and 9 times out of 10 it is genuine. I also work out of New York where we have delays, the flights are packed and sometimes overbooked. In my view, the good outweighs the bad and I am a happy Flight Attendant.
I've had people scream at me before and no, I have never thought about doing something as dramatic as Slater. Do I judge him? Not really. I don't know what he has gone through in his career so I have nothing to base my opinion on. I just know what when I leave, it will not be a scene anything like that.
Please don't bash all US Flight Attendants. There are a lot of us out there that work hard and love our jobs.
Heather Poole Aug 11th 2010 3:12PM
Jeanette - *I* did not delete your first response. The only time posts are deleted are when they use inappropriate language, are hateful, link to porn sites, or are spam. But I do not know why your post was deleted.
Jeanette Aug 11th 2010 4:30PM
Heather, that's hilarious. I can promise you that my response was not inappropriate, spam, linked to a porn site or any of the other offenses you listed. This conversation is pointless and your attitude affirms my initial opinion. Good luck with all that.
Bye
Buh-bye.
Bye now.
Byyyye.
Goodbye.
Buh-bye.
(Starting to sound familiar?)
Heather Poole Aug 11th 2010 4:38PM
1. Your suspicions are false and I find it sad that you (of all people) would let a few flight attendants (The napkin nazi, a nonsmiler, and me) lead you to this conclusion. I'd say 90% of flight attendants are awesome. Yes, there are a few bad apples in the bunch, but that's just how it is with every job. It's easy to judge, and that's what's wrong with society today. I'm not just blaming passengers either. Flight attendants do the same.
2. I hope you don't think I was accusing you of those things (spam, language, etc) I was just saying that is what is typically deleted from the comments. I don't care if you agree with me or not and that wouldn't cause me to delete a post. Now I'm curious as to why your post was deleted. I'll check into it.
Heather Poole Aug 10th 2010 1:21PM
Pet Peeve #10 - when ex-flight attendants who have NO IDEA what the job is like now harshly judge flight attendants today.
You're comparing apples to oranges. While I have no problem with people complaining about flight attendants, there are bad ones out there, comparing us to those who worked during the "good old days" of travel when the layovers were long (not 8-10 hours) and the planes were rarely packed full and flights were staffed with more than just minimum crew and all you had to do was work 70 hours (not 90+) to make ends meet is just rude.
in_the_winners_circle Aug 30th 2010 2:24PM
I work in a service industry as well and while I am blessed to serve many very nice and polite people there are others who go ABCR (above and beyond the call of rudness). Some people feel that just because I work in a service industry that they can be rude to me. I can't tell you how many times I walk through the hotel greeting guests only to be ignored or blown off. I just smile though and go on my merry way.
People have less respect these days and they tear up our lobby and leave trash all over the place and some even complain just to get something for free. Because they know that they can.
These are desperate and dangerous times these days. Who would have ever thought twice about terrorists on airlines flying within the continental United States in 1985? These days things are different and a bit scary.
Negative behavior is re-inforcerd by reward nowadays.
Ljbad4life Aug 10th 2010 6:27PM
posting like that heather just solidifies my belief that flight attendants are over entitled and self absorbed. Don't like the job? quit! After working years in many different industries, retail, service and TSA, I've been cursed at, yell at and hit. Did I react like that? No..... why? it's called class, try getting some.
I 100% agree with jeanette!
Trust me, if the FA went to the pilot and said he been assaulted by a passenger, the pilot would have returned to the gate and got the guy arrested!
Jeanette Aug 11th 2010 12:41AM
Heather, I think if you'll read my post again, that's exactly what I said - that I haven't walked in the shoes of today's f/a and that crew used to have more tools at their disposal to make customers happy. But thanks for reinforcing my point with your snarky post. Doesn't matter if it was twenty years ago or two weeks ago, standards for customer service are the same and it's a shame that people will look for any excuse (full flights, shorter layovers) to justify not delivering quality service. It's their job.
**noticed that you deleted my first response** Apparently this blog only accepts comments that agree with you?
james Aug 10th 2010 5:03PM
I agree with Jeanette to an extent, but I think that the surliness common now on American carriers is simply of reflection back of the surliness of the passengers who are not happy. This is anecdotal, but my emphasis is on American carriers. I returned from Barcelona recently from there to Amsterdam on KLM on which the attendants were pleasant and courteous. Transferred to Delta for the cross and if I could have photos of the angry expressions of those attendants, it would clearly show the difference. There's probably an explanation for it, such as American employees constant battles with management or a higher sense of entitlement or whatever, but it does exist. I will take a foreign carrier over an American one any chance I get.
As for this incident, I suspect the guy was fed up with the job anyway and had premeditated his exit when the occasion arose. It did, and he went out with a bang and lots of attention.