Here’s a lesson from Delta Airlines: If you think you smell alcohol on a pilot’s breath, don’t dare ask the flight crew if he’d been drinking; you’ll just end up being kicked off the flight. That’s what happened to a woman from California, who recently found herself booted from a Delta flight.
The 51-year-old woman was waiting to fly home to Southern California from Atlanta when she and three other passengers had a brief conversation with one of the pilots of their delayed flight. When the pilot walked away from the group, one of her fellow passengers asked the others if they had also smelled alcohol on the pilot’s breath.
“A gentleman standing behind me asked, ‘Did anyone smell that? It smelled a little like vodka,’” recalled the woman. “We all agreed that he did smell alcohol, but we didn’t know if he had been drinking or what we should do about it.”
The woman then spoke to the head flight attendant on board the plane: “I told her that I didn’t know what protocol is, but I believe I smelled alcohol on one of the pilots’ breath.”
The flight attendant then talked to another pilot, who then requested to speak to the woman:
He asked me to come inside the cockpit, where he shut the door and asked me about my conversation with the pilot in the jetway. I told him what I had told the flight attendant; that other passengers and I thought we had smelled alcohol on the pilot’s breath…. He said he had been with the captain for several hours before the flight. I was satisfied with the pilot’s explanation, thanked him and returned to my seat.
Twenty minutes later, she was approached by a Delta Airlines manager who asked her to follow him off the plane. “He then told me the captain took a test that proved he did not have anything to drink,” she says.
The passenger then returned to her seat and thought the matter was over and done with. She was wrong.
“About 20 minutes later, the Delta manager returned with a female colleague and they asked me to gather my belongings and follow them off the flight,” said the passenger. “I was so embarrassed.”
Back in the airport, it reiterated to her that the pilot had tested negative for alcohol. She was also told that “they take these accusations very seriously and that the captain and his crew did not want me on his flight.”
She was given meal and hotel vouchers and told she could take a flight to L.A. the next morning.
“All I did was voice my concerns,” she said. “I wasn’t a threat to anyone and for them to remove me was wrong.”
NBC spoke to a retired United Airlines captain who gave a very mixed message on the situation:
If you think someone is drunk, you owe it to yourself, your loved ones and other passengers to report it… However, in this case, because the captain had not been drinking, Delta made the right decision by asking her to leave the plane.
So if you have reason to believe that a pilot has been drinking, you “owe it to yourself, your loved ones and other passengers to report it,” but if you’re mistaken you deserve to be humiliated and kicked off a plane?
What would you have done in this woman’s situation?
Woman kicked off flight after accusing pilot of drinking [KSDK.com]
Thanks to Pete for the tip!
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I don’t know why that is even legal. She did nothing wrong, and they have a contract to provide her service. Show me where she violated that contract that gives the right for Delta to kick her off.
Isn’t this from “Seinfeld”?
If every dumb passenger decided to that they needed to do their ‘due diligence…” non-sense then every flight would be delayed while the pilots were off blowing in a breathalyzer. Lets use a little common sense. We already live in a society where everyone wants to be the center of attention. This women was wrong, she potentially delayed the flight because she either wasnt smart enough to tell if he had been drinking, wanted the attention, or was trying to be funny. This isnt hard! If you really think the pilot had been drinking then get off the plane and say something. If she really felt he had been drinking why was she on that plane?
The explanation by Delta is why customers absolutely hate dealing with these corporations
They make absolutely ZERO SENSE in ANYTHING they ever tell us….I mean, none. How many times do we see things cost more and yet are told in a statement that the customer is winning due to the price increase….huh? What the HELL does that even mean?
We owe it to everyone to report alcohol yet they made the right decision by kicking her off? Huh?
You know, shouldn’t she be entitled to all the payments and benefits of someone classed as “Involuntarily Denied Boarding” just like when someone is forced to take a bump? I figure the airlines start having to pay out a couple grand in cash every time they do this, there might be some customer-facing policies put in place to see that it stops.
This is just f-ing pathetic . . . I used to work in the aviation biz and have a cousin who’s a pilot (who I really like) but pilots, by the time they’re flying commercial and earning a far, far above average wage to do so, are egomaniacs. They are, IMHO, basically more sophisticated bus drivers who work 15 days a month. In some cases, they do even less work (hello, automated take-off AND landing).
This guy had her kicked off because she questioned his sobriety? In what other environment would that be acceptable? Name one. I’m having a hard time thinking of one. Pretty good example of “empowerment gone wrong” . . .
Honestly? I would wonder why it’s not ALREADY a requirement for all flight crew to take a breathalizer test before being allowed to board their aircraft.
I would have asked for legal grounds of removal. With written proof. That is total BS.
Let’s say she stays on the plane. That thing hits a patch of turbulence, next thing you know it’s “I TOLD YOU I smelled alcohol on his breath! That pilot is DRUNK! I am SUING as soon as I get on the ground….you know, provided we don’t CRASH INTO A MOUNTAIN OR ANYTHING.”
I can see if she was “still voicing concerns”, they translate that into “liable to incite a panic/riot” and want her off the plane.
I don’t agree with it, but that’s how it seems.
Hmmm, wasn’t aware that vodka smelled.
This is why people don’t speak up. If the pilot wasn’t drinking and it was something as simple as hand sanitizer, then why not just explain it and forget about it?
It’s like this one story I heard before where someone was pulled over by the police because they thought he was under the influence. He was a professional fire-breather or something and it affected his breathalyzer test (I don’t remember the specifics). But anyway, the fact still stands that the guy was driving erratically enough that the police thought he was under the influence.
Anyway, back to the article – if it smells like someone had been drinking, prove that it’s not the pilot and just move on. I doubt the lady would have raised a stink about it and if people on public buses are any indication, nobody would have paid attention to her. They would have just thought she was just crazy (well, not like certifiably crazy, just a bit nutty).
At least they gave her a room, instead of making her wait in the airport.
Well that’s one way for Delta to prevent frivolous claims from idiots. Unfortunately it backfires on passengers like this one who have legitimate concerns, even if they are mistaken. I wonder if they wouldn’t have taken her off if she had apologized for her mistake (and asked them to convey her apology to the pilot) the first time they said the pilot had been tested negative.
So this lady and others smelled alcohol on the pilot’s breath. She apparently was the only one to complain, or complain enough to get kicked off the plane.
BTW, I am pretty sure if ANYONE says to any flight crew member or gate member, “Hey I think the pilot’s been drinking.” The FAA is immediately called, and a test is given. End if story.
I hate Delta, probably more than most here. However, I give the pilots a second chance. Something this lady said triggered this response. If he wanted her off the plane, she would not have had the 20 minute wait. There are security agents close to any gate. The gate attendants could have come and gotten her off.
It would not surprise me that after she went to the cockpit, and then sat back down, someone asked her what she was doing, and she kept repeating, “I only asked if the pilot was drunk!” She probably does not realize she was saying something so wrong. He took her off because of her inability to shut up and drop it. He took the test, it clears him.
Also, things like this get pilots fired pretty easily. They then cannot get a job with another airline, so all that work to be a pilot is out the door. Because one person could not STFU, and let it go.
I agree with the United Pilot, he did the right thing, and she (initially) did the right thing.
Could some, including a pilot, be suggesting that this lady should have said nothing, got off the plane, rebooked her flight (for some unknown future date???) and left the rest of those people to possible death? Whew! What a mind. That is the epitome of self-centeredness, isn’t it?
DH is an airline pilot. If he ever tried to pull something like this and I heard about it, he’d be my ex-DH. There is no way asking a question — assuming that’s all this lady did — in any way endangers the crew or other passengers, and that is the only valid reason for kicking a paying passenger off a flight. I hope the pilot’s union and management get to the bottom of this, and that the passenger sues. I think she has a strong claim against the airline for harrassment, humiliation, loss of her day’s productivity, etc. (I’m the spouse who went to law school). Neither the FAA nor the ailines give pilots the unbridled power to behave like total assholes.
To me this seems like one of those stories where there is most likely a lot more going on then is being reported.
“(hic) You go tell that hag, (hic) that I passsed a tesht. (hic) (brrrrp) and that (hic) she’s kicked off (hic) my … my plane.(hic)”
On another note, do people use aftershave any more?
I fly Delta regularly (two to three times a month) and like the service.
A pilot is responsible for the safety of the aircraft and the souls on board.
In cases of emergency he/she can even override the instructions given by
AirTrafficControl.
But…with that said…I think this was blatant abuse of power by a pilot
who was embarrassed by having to take an alcohol test. The pilot has
control in cases of safety…this had nothing to do with safety. This
was a personal vendetta.
What do I think the outcome should Be?
I think Delta should make a public apology to the lady and give her a
financial reward for her diligence. They should also publicly issue a
reprimand to the pilot and require this pilot to take anger management
training.
In my opinion, this pilot is a safety hazard. I do not trust my safety
to anyone who makes knee-jerk decisions like this. If it was my airline
I would fire the pilot.
Unless I see a public apology I will start flying other airlines even
though I have racked up a lot of miles with Delta.
Delta, the ball is in your court and the public is watching.
Well the best thing do next time is have the whole flight crew transported to the Hospital
for a breath test and blood test. Let all the people wait on board untill they get back or wait for another crew. Safety first! One would want the very best as a passenger yes?
It is the Captain’s right to demand a blood test, after he has been accused and if the statemen is not true he also has the right to sue the passengers involved for defamation of character .