Retired British hedge fund executive Robert David Croizat mentioned in the Panama Papers scolded an American Airlines flight attendant, saying they “should have addressed him in a better way when giving him the choices for his meal” and demanded to see the captain because there were only vegetarian options on board flight 1192 from Bridgetown to Miami on on March 8.
- There are several Caribbean flights where meal service is notoriously bad on American because they’re double-catered out of the United States. The focus is on ‘shelf-stable’ meals.
- However the man’s claim, prior to shoving a crewmember, that this flight attendant was “sh*tty” is undermined by the fact that he had first been served two cocktails even before the altercation took place halfway into the scheduled four hour flight.
After his aggressive behavior towards crew, including pinning one of the flight attendants against the cockpit door, the man was overpowered by another passenger and forced into his seat. Among the odd details in the criminal complaint against the man is that this ‘forced a glass of wine to spill’. Here’s the government’s claim in the case (.pdf).
For the rest of the flight a galley cart was positioned in front of the cockpit door to prevent the man from continuing to physically demand to see the captain, leading the rest of the first class cabin to use the coach lavatory when necessary.
The captain radioed ahead about an attempted breach of the cockpit, which the passenger claimed in court was an exaggeration. Police met the aircraft on arrival in Miami. Felony charges of interference with flight crew were dropped, while the man pled guilty to misdemeanor assault.
While on bail the man, by all accounts wealthy, sought permission of the court to leave the country because paying for an Airbnb in Miami was so expensive. He could have saved money if he hadn’t sought bail in the first place!
(HT: Paul H)
The world would be a better place if he was just allowed to be tossed out of the plane mid-flight.
I do this every flight as the meal always sucks on American
The flight crew should know who I am and refer to me as your royal highness
Bring back the turkey wraps and the uno pizzas! The only caterer that’s decent at AA is the one out of Sydney
It sounds like this ‘gentleman’ was seated towards the back of the airplane, assuming food service is front to back.
I once had an experience of sitting almost to the back of a DEL-CHI flight. Of course I got handed a vegan meal. No problem.
Afterwards, it occurred to me that default meal ‘selection’ could be shown in the seat selection phase, with ‘meat seats’ colored in pink background and ‘vegan seats’ indicated with a pale green, starting approximately where the meat offerings run out.
What a dick
What? The F passengers had to use the coach bathroom? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Lifetime Ban!
Since he’s sitting in a premium cabin, he can pre-order his choice of meal he should be thrown off the airline for acting like a jerk!
It’s a meal for chrissake not a gourmet restaurant you’re on an airplane
Thanks for attaching the SA affidavit. No where in his sworn statement does it say “ he demanded to see the captain because there were only vegetarian options on board flight 1192 from Bridgetown to Miami on on March 8”
What was sworn to by the SA to the courts is “ CROIZAT turned to FA 2 and stated “what, you want to call the Captain?” and, according to FA2, aggressively, demandingly, and loudly ordered the flight attendants to “get the Captain out here.””
While I understand it’s more dramatic to use what you used as a title which in returns generates more traffic and clicks, it inaccurate reporting.
It’s sad that you’re once great site has turned into a marketing machine. It’s ironic that over the years all the complaints about AA pitching Credit Cards when it’s 10x worst here
@818pilot – other linked reporting attributes the demand to see the captain to the meal choices, this has nothing to do with my desire to be ‘dramatic’ etc.
“overpowered by another passenger and forced into his seat.”
I’ve got a transatlantic flight on AA, next week. My first flight on AA in over twenty years. I better keep up my gym membership, to be ready for this sort of in-flight entertainment.
Nothing but vegan meals!? Smithers! Release the hounds!
Why were the felony charges for interfering with flight crew dropped? That’s what I want to know
The meal sounds better than this week’s Lufthansa flight FRA to DEN.
A glob of green puree over a bed of white rice-only choice.
BYO food unless you enjoy eating dog food.
@Mark – Since he pled guilty to a lesser charge, they were likely dropped is part of a plea deal.
I dont blame him. Meals at AA are a joke..lol
I remember when I flew lax to tokyo by aa, the crew always started conversation by ‘have you looked at the menu?’ they were trained to be rude. they know my name and never even say good morning out of LA route or Good afternoon out of tokyo. terrible experience.
I have said this before, you are in a metal tube with many people for several hours, this is the time to be on your best behavior, resume your nonsense after deplaning. Demanding to see the captain over meal choices is idiotic to say the least, lodge your complaints after landing.
I think these kind of situations are due to hiring Karens to pose as flight attendants. Any good flight attendant would be able to handle these passengers with professionalism. Instead, these Karens exaggerate everything, threaten the passengers and make everyone suffer.
Being a white man from the UK, I am very surprised he was charged with a misdemeanor assault instead of being given a key to the state on his arrival by woke war commander-in-chief and proud boy Ron DeSantis.
I read this story to my husband while we were driving home from lunch and it reminded me that we’re almost to the 30-day window for meal selection for a trip we have next month. Always great fun to see what lousy meals we have our choice of coming out of DFW.
Husband: Golden Chicken. It’s always Golden Chicken.
Me: We’re leaving at 8:30. It’s breakfast.
Husband: Alright then, Golden Chicken Frittata.
AA. so very bad. only had to wait for 17 hrs. to get out of Guatemala. and no comp. what so ever. did get a hotel for 3 1/2. rest. how bad it is!!!! then they put mevon a united flight and that one of course as also delayed. i land ib sfo 24hrs later. sorry american can see why your so disliked
@daffy duck
You suffer from white envy.
American (and Americans) have such low standards!
I used to do tjis route frequently. At bfast all they woould serve in biz class on a 3+ hour flight is one banana, one small yogurt, some cereal.
When asked they said Barbados cant give cooked eggs!! Seriously ypu guys need to go around thr world a bit to see how other airlines treat passangers
About fifty years ago as a LEO ( law enforcement officer ) I assisted the lieutenant in placing a prisoner on AA. Front row first class window seat cuffed and ankle bracelets secured to the floor. He had a ” stadium bag ” attacked so no going potty. That was all done before paying passengers boarded. I left the plane before they came on, the Lt stayed and later told us this: A flight attendant young and cute took to the prisoner, in fact she fed him. She complained to the captain about how he was treated etc. They were two hours in a six hour flight. The capt landed immediately after the attendant spoke. Capt put her off the plane. AA DID RIGHT BY LANDING and pro acting removing a problem.
Pankaj- A random jackwagon gets violent with the crew over a meal, endangering everyone else, and it’s some how the FAs fault? You are exactly what’s wrong with air travelers today.
And FYI, the captain doesn’t give Fk #1 about your meal choice. S/He is busy flying the aircraft.
If you are so concerned about what you are going to eat, pack snacks of your choice.
Did he really think this would end well for him????
I want hazard pay.
@818pilot did you bother to read what you wrote? Because I’m what you wrote it states he “aggressively and loudly ordered the FA to get the captain out here”. That is a demand on the flight deck
Of course the rich prick got away with it.
No one mentioned the likely reason for the weird behavior of the strange passenger.
The likely reason is that he had been served two cocktails prior to his outburst (read the article again).
Two cocktails before the dinner option – who knows how many other cocktails he had before he got on the plane! The man was likely drunk.
None of the prior messages mentioned the fact that the article said the abusive man was served two cocktails before his foolish actions.
I wrote a comment about this matter of the man who acted inappropriately aboard an AA flight.
I have responded to Gary’s articles many times in the past over many years.
Incredibly, my comment was deleted. Could it be because I mentioned alcohol in my post?
Some people are too sensitive about the truth.
My article was marked “waiting moderation” then it disappeared.