Britney Spears was caught lighting a cigarette during a JSX flight from Los Angeles to Cabo San Lucas on Friday. Authorities met the flight on arrival. She had admittedly been drinking vodka before deciding to smoke onboard.
According to passengers, she had multiple alcoholic drinks and became visibly intoxicated. Passengers and crew members immediately stepped in, let her know this was not permitted, and asking her to put it out.
Upon landing, Mexican authorities confronted her and issued her a warning rather than taking further action. JSX confirmed the incident to multiple outlets, explaining their onboard policies and relevant regulations. Spears acknowledged the incident and her lapse in judgment which she blames on the booze, and that her friend told her it was ok.
I initially saw this reported as Spears getting in trouble for smoking on a private jet. And there were incredulous responses in social media that private jets should allow people to smoke. In fact,
- Part 91 private operations permit smoking provided safety rules are followed including ash trays and proper signage.
- Part 135 charters are different when a flight attendant is required. (Rules protect the flight attendant’s exposure in their work environment.) Smoking can be in violation of an aircraft’s certification.
However she was flying JSX and that’s not a private jet. It’s sometimes described as ‘semi-private’ because they operate from private terminals, which is a far more convenient and pleasant travel experience. But the flights are scheduled charters. You buy a seat for a scheduled flight. And that’s fundamentally at odds with really flying private.
Nearly thirty years ago, when I first started work and was the most junior employee, I wound up answering phones on board meeting day for a brief period. A board member’s pilot called, wondering when he might be departing? I passed along the message to a more senior employee who approached the board member who seemed genuinely confused by the question… when I get there?
The idea of flying private is that you’re on your own schedule and not someone else’s. Of course there are plenty of variations on this that limit flexibility, but buying a seat on a JSX flight is just not the same as owning your own jet.
It’s somewhat strange for those of us who grew up with Britney Spears the pop star to see her flying JSX now. While I’d choose JSX each and every time schedules worked out if they were still flying from Austin (Austin Executive Airport in Pflugerville to Taos, New Mexico does not count), by all rights Spears shouldn’t be traveling on anyone else’s schedule at this point. The decades haven’t treated her kindly.
@ Gary — Some people should just stay home.
She’s a mess and as she ages time will not be kind to her.
She really does need family and true friends. The guardianship, however cruel, seemed to at least keep her safe
What a dumb HASBEEN. She knows, oh I forgot she is stupid.
It’s still courtesy to let the pilot know approximately when you’re going to show up to the hangar or FBO. And I will text the pilot if the schedule changes a lot.
Lord, I would love to see someone simply say “yeah, I’m stupid. I knew it was wrong but am simply a moron and made a bad decision.” No blaming the booze. No blaming prescription meds. No blaming anyone or anything but themself.
Perspective (maybe a lot more than you want), Brittney grew up about 8 miles N of us, in Tangipahoa Parish, the settlement of Spring Creek, Louisiana (don’t believe the internet, it’s all super-rural, at the intersection of three country roads), her mama taught 5th grade, her daddy went bust in various businesses, they hocked everything to take her to Los Angeles, told her she was solely responsible for their future. She has no education, nobody she trusted to depend on, last I heard Papa was living in a tiny camper by the stoplight in Kentwood, La., trying to sell a picante sauce he concocted, Mama was back as a substitute teacher. It’s a tragedy, but understandable. (her Grampa discovered something much easier than divorce, he had two successive wives committed to mental institutions.) Yes, she’d whip out a cigarette, not imagining it was against the rules.
Because “her friend told her it was OK”? How drunk was she the she believed that?