Drunk cabin crew and costly delays

Yes Ren, the reports do suggest some or all of the crew that did the Sat IBZ-ABZ early arrival did go into town that evening for drinkees…including the flight crew.

There but for the Grace of God, I’m sure others will be whispering…

I’m guessing the above was in reponse to a now deleted reponse that I haven’t seen…?

Whatever that’s all about I’ve no idea, my posts throughout this thread are clearly based upon what has been publically reported on the BBC News website.

As ever the facts of the matter will generally struggle to be divulged in the media. If anyone on here has a problem with what is being reported then I suggest they contact the relevant media or press organisations…;)

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GA

The ugly truth is out… She’s been fired and fined £400 by Aberdeen Sheriff Court. Amazingly she seems to have been drinking with the Captain and FO after the inbound flight, the actual flight crew seem to have gotten away with it completely !

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/7581088.stm

Edited to say: To all intents and purposes it appears the flight crew got away with drinking before shift, apparently they were in fact tested and cleared. :rolleyes:;)

A: Why would they involve the police, it’s not as if she was going to fly the plane ?

Well they would have done it if a passenger was drunk, we all know, a drunk person is not always a calm person and so the cabin crew member could well have turned violent!

I wouldn’t have thought a tanked up passenger we so often hear about and a stewardess slightly over the legal limit would act in the same sort of way. I’m pretty certain I’ve been a passenger on flights with more alcohol in my system than this unfortunate lady yet haven’t drawn any attention, let alone drawn been ‘arrested’…

It would be interesting to know just how ‘drunk’ she was perceived to be, or if in fact she just admitted what she’d done and got carpeted for it.

Cloud_9, I take it you already possess your “Job’s worth hat”?

Planemike………..

[QUOTE=Ren Frew;1280459]
A: Why would they involve the police, it’s not as if she was going to fly the plane ?[QUOTE]

Well they would have done it if a passenger was drunk, we all know, a drunk person is not always a calm person and so the cabin crew member could well have turned violent!

When did they change the limit? Or is that the limit in Scotland?

Either way, 1 pint or a glass of wine is neither here nor there – When was the last time you or anybody drunk that amount and felt incapable or even looked incapable of doing your duty?

It truely is pathetic regardless of the rules. Where the hell did common sense go? The powers that be are tightening the noose all the time and soon you won’t be able to trump without going to court for it.

The legal amount for driving a vehicle is 80 in 100 which is around 1 pint of average strength lager or a small glass of wine.

It’s unbelieveable that she has had to go through all this such a small amout of alcohol in her blood. Scandless!!!

According to the BBC report…

Ms Lukomska, from Liss, Hampshire, made no plea and the case was continued at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.

The 24-year-old was charged with performing an aviation function with 57 microgrammes of alcohol per 100ml in her system, contrary to the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 Section 93 (1).

The drink-drive limit is 35 microgrammes per 100ml of breath

.

It’s unbelieveable that she has had to go through all this such a small amout of alcohol in her blood. Scandless!!!

I agree it seems to be a small amount of alcohol in her blood, but the fact remains that at the end of the day she was over the regulated limit that the rules state and she got caught! Said person should do the honorable thing and admit to it and pay the price as their job depends on it!

More information has come to light, even her solicitor is baffled…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7542077.stm

The legal amount for driving a vehicle is 80 in 100 which is around 1 pint of average strength lager or a small glass of wine.

It’s unbelieveable that she has had to go through all this such a small amout of alcohol in her blood. Scandless!!!

She’s obviously totally irresponsible and doesn’t hold her job in high esteem..dismiss her!!

Quite right Steve, I totally agree!

It does not matter what issues caused this person to want to drink so much, that is irrelevant in my opinion. I would have done exactly as the colleague who reported said person to the police if I was in the same situation and felt that any particular team member that I was working with could not perform his/her duties properly and could endanger the safety of the aircraft, passengers and other crew, period!

Its just a shame that unfortunately now they will pay the price by probably loosing their job and throw away a perfectly good career by never being allowed to fly again, as crew at least!

Moral of the story…alcohol doesn’t solve every problem in the world!:D

One thing that does surprise me about this situation though is why it caused such a lengthy delay, 6hrs is a heck of a long time for what is in theory a fairly minor incident. Did the airline not have any standby crew waiting that could of replaced said person, and if not I thought flight crew were suppose to live a maximum of 45mins away from the airport, so why did it take so long before the flight left?

She’s obviously totally irresponsible and doesn’t hold her job in high esteem..dismiss her!!

[QUOTE=Ren Frew;1280771] and for the police to become involved it must have been considered the correct course of action…
QUOTE]

Or some “little Hitler” trying to make a name for them selves. This poor Girl is going to be prosecuted and loose her Job for either a moment of madness or a deeper problem. I don’t normaly stick up for “the girls down the back” but I do feel that this girl has recieved a poor deal from her fellow crew members. I hope the caring, sharing firm that she works for helps her.:mad:

Rgds Cking

More information has come to light, even her solicitor is baffled…

The 24-year-old was charged with performing an aviation function with 57 microgrammes of alcohol per 100ml in her system, contrary to the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 Section 93 (1).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7542077.stm

I think perhaps it needs to be clarified that in these instances there are standard procedures laid down in law to be followed.

I think it very unlikely that a colleague would have called the police directly, rather advised the company via crewing that there was an issue. The company is then obliged by law to advise the police, and no airline worth its salt would risk its reputation by not complying.

As far as the rest of the crew covering for the crewmember concerned, this is difficult as the chances are the aircraft is already carrying the minimum legally required number of crew so it is not possible to have a crewmember not operate without comprimising safety and service. The rest of the crew, including the flight crew, would also then be committing an offence.

Regarding a replacement crewmember, ABZ is not (I believe) a base for bmi so no replacement would be available. The bmi regional crew based at ABZ would not be 320 licensed therefore unable to operate this flight. The replacement crewmember getting to ABZ from their base would be the reason for the 6 hour delay to departure.

1L.

I think you have answered all of my questions there 1L and thank you for your input. Without knowing the actual circumstances of this incident, it’s impossible to judge, clearly something has gone wrong and for the police to become involved it must have been considered the correct course of action…

Presumably the girl’s career is now over ? A shame perhaps, especially when the degree of so called “drunkeness” appears to have required a breathalyser to establish. But regs are regs and who are we to argue…

Thanks for the explanation, 1L.

Paul

I think perhaps it needs to be clarified that in these instances there are standard procedures laid down in law to be followed.

I think it very unlikely that a colleague would have called the police directly, rather advised the company via crewing that there was an issue. The company is then obliged by law to advise the police, and no airline worth its salt would risk its reputation by not complying.

As far as the rest of the crew covering for the crewmember concerned, this is difficult as the chances are the aircraft is already carrying the minimum legally required number of crew so it is not possible to have a crewmember not operate without comprimising safety and service. The rest of the crew, including the flight crew, would also then be committing an offence.

Regarding a replacement crewmember, ABZ is not (I believe) a base for bmi so no replacement would be available. The bmi regional crew based at ABZ would not be 320 licensed therefore unable to operate this flight. The replacement crewmember getting to ABZ from their base would be the reason for the 6 hour delay to departure.

1L.

Would you really be happy for this situation to be hidden by the crew operating YOUR flight?

No I wouldn’t, but I have to agree that perhaps the way it was handled, assuming this is an isolated incident could perhaps have been better. Was it really necessary to call the police? Was there no way a relief crew member could have been found and the person in question be sent home to face the consequences later? It actually sounds like there was a personal reason for the crew calling the police. Surely that wouldn’t be the first step they would usually take?

I’ve known people occasionally turn up to work doing what I do having drunk several glasses of red wine too much and they’re either sent home or kicked off the gig with a severe boIIocking. I realise it’s slightly different, but I can’t believe most crew members would immediately call the police over an incident like this.

Paul

With all due respect you don’t know if this person has done it a number of times before and tried people patience once to often.

Clearly the said person does not take there “career” seriously.