On Wednesday’s American Airlines flight AA1293 from St. Croix to Miami passenger Jason Felix was apparently drunk when he boarded.
A flight attendant heard the man “rummaging around inside the lavatory” and “needed help exiting the bathroom.” The crewmember helped the passenger out of the lavatory, and was greeted with an anti-gay slur, “shouting and arguing with the flight attendant.”
Unsurprisingly the flight attendant wouldn’t serve the man another beer — and they wound up discussing whether the flight attendant was the man’s bartender.
Having been to St. Croix this strikes me as just about normal, it’s one of the lower-end party islands in the Caribbean, nothing like Saint Martin or St. John.
Here are other passengers trying to calm the man down.
Unfortunately the passenger didn’t calm down. In my experience telling someone to calm down isn’t going to calm them. And in this case it didn’t.
Felix told one of the other passengers, who were trying to calm him down, that he was going to kill him and spit blood on him, a brawl ensued. The fight was eventually broken up by the flight attendant.
There was discussion of diverting the aircraft. The man didn’t completely settle down. But they decided to continue on to Miami, which they managed to do safely. According to American Airlines, “We thank our crew for taking care of our customers and are proud of the work they do every single day.”
On arrival in Miami police escorted the man off the plane.
Another gem to add to the no-fly list
As American continues to shrink seats and personal space I predict that this is
Just the tip of the iceberg of what’s to come
As passengers some who already have problems in their personal life become caged in like animals they are more likely to become agitated over everything
It won’t start or stop with drinks
Doug Parker will be partially or fully responsible on his ego trip to trying to squeeze more profits out of American
So glad I left flying them
American is clearly on its way to becoming a flying penitentiary
They can use those extra seats they squeezed in to seat prison guards and armed security police officers to enforce the safety of the other passengers
That faggot is going to have a big night in jail when Bubba pulls down his pants.
Gary,
I usually agree with the statements you make in your blog, but this time I have to take exception with your comment that St. Croix is a lower-end party island. St. Croix is a poor island and does not enjoy the level of support from the V.I. government that St. Thomas does. Nor does it have the cruise ship traffic that other Caribbean islands count on. That said, the people of St. Croix are generally very warm and friendly. Also to characterize it as a party island clearly illustrates that you have not spent much time on St. Croix beyond the town of Christiansted. This is a beautiful island with areas ranging from near desert to rain forest. It is world renowned for several diving spots and even has a bay with bioluminescent jellyfish. I hope that next time you visit you leave with a better impression.
@Badwine – I’m talking about the experience of the island ‘for tourists’ not for locals, it’s absolutely beautiful! And lack of support for the island merely explains some of what I’m talking about it doesn’t refute it..
Bumbaclot!
Yea telling a drunk to calm down is just asking for a fight to break out. The FA acted appropriately and in a professional manner. Hopefully this guy will be banned from flying and will do some prison time for his antics. Causing an altercation like that one a plane can put everyone at risk and I don’t care if he was drunk. He should do real time to send a message to thugs like this.
@ Bill — Prison time, really?
The comment including the word “faggot” was approved in your moderation queue, Gary?
@C – it didn’t go into the moderation queue, most comments go live automatically
but i read the comment as critical of the gay-bashing customer, it may not be delicate language but in context this isn’t what you seem to think it is
Hey Gary how many of these drinks who have been escorted off a plane by police have been banned to fly ever again?
Please attribute my video footage to me if you are going to publish this article. I was the passenger on the flight who recorded it on my iPhone and published on my YouTube page. I also forwarded the footage to the FBI and MDPD.
Yes I am embedding the footage directly from YouTube [I would not take the video myself and republish it]. So all the views here are views to your page.
Of course if there’s additional credit you’d like drop me an email and I’d be happy to provide further recognition however you’d like.
Got it. But it would be nice if you could say something like, “a passenger on the plane, Bill Bolduc, captured this video on his iPhone.” Most if the major media outlets who have used my footage for free have done so. By the way, I am an avid follower of OneMileAtATime and I have referred numerous people to your site and OMAAT as well as links to various credit cards.
Gary, the homophobic comment of WilliamC is completely out of line, and should have been removed by now. To not do so, now it has been bought to your notice, can be seen as endorsement by you of his vile views.
@JC No interest in any club with just 2 members, so you and WilliamC will need to play each other I guess.
@ CoolHandLuke: If you are avoiding clubs with only two members, I’m sure your extra chromosome will feel lonely.
Do I understand the passenger was allowed to board while already under the influence? I thought that was a no, no. Precisely for the kind of problems that ensued on board later. If anything this showed an agent with poor judgement at the boarding gate.
Gary you are 100% wrong about the use of the word faggot in the comments section. Replace anti-gay with anti-Semitic in the article and faggot with “kik*e accountant” in the comment and tell me how you personally feel about it.
@SK — In this context the word is being used to criticize the passenger making anti-gay remarks. If someone used anti-Semitic slurs to criticize Hitler that would, I think, be appropriate.