On August 28, a Japan Airlines Honolulu – Nagoya, Japan flight was delayed because the captain decided a night at the hotel bar was more important than preparing for duty. He called in sick at the gate, admitting he’d been drinking the night before.
And because of how JAL reshuffled crew to get the Boeing 787-9 out, three separate flights were delayed inconveniencing a total of 630 passsengers.
To get flight JL793 out, JAL borrowed the cockpit crew from the later Honolulu – Tokyo Haneda flight. That stranded the Haneda rotation.
- JL793 HNL → NGO (B787-9 JA874J)
• Sched dep: Thu 14:20 → Actual dep: Thu 16:28 (+2h08)
• Sched arr: Fri 17:30 → Actual arr: Fri 19:13
• Load noted by JAL: 239 pax (incl. 2 infants), 12 crew (2 pilots, 10 cabin).
JL71 HNL → HND (B787-9 JA876J)
• Sched dep: Thu 16:35 → Actual dep: Fri 11:16 (+18h41)
• Sched arr: Fri 19:45 → Actual arr: Sat 13:53.
JL71 HNL → HND (the next day’s rotation, B787-9 JA875J)
• Sched dep: Fri 16:35 → Actual dep: Sat 10:56 (+18h21)
• Sched arr: Fri 19:45 → Actual arr: Sun 13:49.
Bureaucrats at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism showed up at the Japan Airlines Tokyo headquarters — presumably to ask why this keeps happening. Because it does.
In April 2024, a pilot made a scene at his U.S. layover hotel, getting warned by local police. In December 2024 two pilots out-drank themselves before a Melbourne–Tokyo flight, delaying the flight 3 hours after failed breath tests. And in January 2025 two pilots lie about their drinking nd got suspended up to 7 months. The airline’s CEO and Chairman took a 30% pay cut for two months, with safety oversight stripped from the chairman’s duties.
On the one hand, I’m very glad that the pilot didn’t fly drunk. But he should definitely face a fine, and possibly a suspension for such a reckless action.
Layover Nannies!… A new business to keep airline crews sober and fit to fly their schedule.
Kanpai, bitches!
Sounds like he needed a dominatrix to keep him from drinking.
If this “keeps happening” perhaps the penalties need to be increased? Permanently barred from commercial flights as a pilot might be a good start?
To his credit, he did not board the aircraft! JAL should suspend him pending successful alcohol abuse treatment. Had he boarded the aircraft…then…like in the Southwest debacle a few weeks ago, he will be fired and his pilot/license/certificate (in the US…certificate) and medical revoked. Try to get a job now!!
Win Whitmire obviously understands the situation. I second the Captain’s actions…a second bad decision (in this case to reporting for duty) doesn’t cancel the first bad decision.
Ok, so put yourself in the Captain’s shoes. Maybe he is still drunk but maybe the correct number of hours have passed and while technically legal to fly, he just doesn’t feel safe to do so. It might be that the guy really got sick. We don’t know, though the story implies that this might be a hangover. In any case, he uses one of his sick days to avoid putting everyone in a dangerous situation. In most companies, employees get a certain number of sick days with no questions asked.
If we punish the guy for this, then next time, won’t he and others have learned to just fly, even when they feel unsafe? I’d rather be mad at being delayed than dead.
Under the circumstances, I think the captain did the right thing.
For a Japanese airline, this is dishonorable. I once recall a mere 15 minutes delay was met with profuse apologies at Sendai. Can’t imagine the explanation and disappointment here.