JetBlue flight attendant arrested for his entertaining exit from plane

Three cheers for JetBlue attendant Steven Slater! When his plane touched down at JFK, an entitled douchebag removed his luggage from the overhead bin while it was still rolling to the gate. Slater told the jerk to wait but the jerk called Slater an asshole motherfucker and then hit Slater with his luggage.

Slater's handling of the situation is commendable:

Slater got on the plane’s public address system and yelled:
“To the passenger who called me a (expletive), (expletive) you. I’ve been in the business 28 years. I’ve had it. That’s it.”
Sources said Slater then grabbed some beer from the plane, deployed the inflatable emergency slide, and took off in his car parked in an employee lot.

Instead of a ticker tape parade, Slater was arrested. No word on the fate of the jerk who started it.

JetBlue Attendant Goes Ballistic On Flight To JFK (Thanks, JG!)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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rimstalker

German newspaper Der Spiegel wrote today that he worked for 20 years and that the passenger in question was female.

http://www.spiegel.de/reise/aktuell/0,1518,711056,00.html
Trotsky

>> This is a combination of GPS and Satellite Beacon which is monitored by a joint US/Russian Search and Rescue center.

You mean this flight attendant almost triggered World War III?!
callmeishmael

If you work with the public long enough you will eventually find out just how obnoxious and abusive some people can be. Slater worked with the public for twenty-eight years in an atmosphere that can be stressful for both the passengers and the cabin crew. I don’t agree with anything that he did but, I can understand how he might have been pushed to the breaking point. It’s just too bad that he didn’t get some help before he threw away his career.
PeaceNerd

Geez, do we really need to debate whether or not we believe his actions were professionally acceptable?

Of COURSE they weren’t. He wasn’t going for professionally acceptable, he was going for “life affirming awesomeness with a side of beer”.

This is like complaining that the Barefoot Bandit didn’t follow FAA regulations. Ugh. Totally missing the point.

I thought this was Boing Boing, not the National Airline Attendant Protocol Standards and Practices Forum for Very Serious People With Rods Up Their Asses.
sunshine67

I’m in the middle of everyone’s comments here. While I agree that this man did not handle the situation appropriately and should be summarily dealt with, I find myself cheering for someone actually standing up for themselves and saying they’ve had enough! I first heard this story on my 11 pm news here in Washington, DC. They did not report that the attendant had been hit with the luggage or injured. They did not report that full story at all!
Having taken plenty of flights all across the US I can say that rude passengers with no regard for rules and regulations are the norm rather than the exception. I can fully understand when Steven Slater lost it and wonder why he did not punch this passenger out! Thank heavens for gentlemen like Steven Stater who day in and day out put up with unkindness and rudeness from weary travelers who would do best to remember it is these folks who are providing the behind the scenes work so the pilots can get them where they want to go!
Better yet, let’s focus on the great attendants and agents across this country, such as Lorentta who works for Delta in Atlanta. She managed to get 2 late passengers on 2 different flights that were already closed, managed to make seating arrangements so that my 3 children fearful of flying could sit all together near me and she did every part of her job with style and grace, smiling at every turn! No need for her to grab some alcohol on the way out the plane when putting those late passengers on even when I am sure there was not a thank you involved! Steven Slater had due reason to be upset, and yes it was a comical way to handle the situation, just not the best way to deal with it.
Antinous / Moderator

My old neighbor had a bumper sticker that read, “Flight attendants are here to save your ass, not kiss it.”
- Anonymous
  
  Arrested for what? Pray tell!
Trotsky

Slaaaa-TER!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr6Y6kOo5rY
Anonymous

In the giddiness to report this story everyone is overlooking an inconsistency.

He’s not old enough to have 28 years experience in the industry.
Trotsky

In all seriousness, would our nation be any worse off if Steven Slater was named Chief Justice of the Supreme Court tonight at the stroke of midnight?
Nelson.C

They can arrest you for quitting work early, now?
- Anonymous
  
  Oh there’s probably some stupid federal law about unnecessarily deploying the inflatable slide on an aircraft.
Anonymous

well done that man-why should he put up with personal abuse- i wish you lute me old mate!!!
from mike in hertford town in england
lydia costume

The best revenge is living well.

But I still would have brought up some assault charges on that ass.
planettom

Hilarious as a one-paragraph news blurb over the Internet.

But also a cautionary tale of how you really shouldn’t live your life like a peripheral character in an episode of SEINFELD.
Manooshi

Rad! Right on, Mr. Slater! Bummer he was arrested.

I hate it when impatient assholes risk injury to others by removing their luggage from the overhead bins when the plane is still moving. Those self-involved jerks should be forced to exit the plane last.
apoxia

I seriously doubt Slater’s handling of the situation is deemed “commendable” by his employer. Sounds kind of juvenile actually.
- Anonymous
  
  You have obviously never been in the service industry. One jerk too many and that is it. We, or my friends and family at least, were raised to be polite. Way, too many people have forgotten that. You seem to be one. Do you talk on your cell phone while checking out? You do… I thought so. That is a great example these days of depersonalizing some one. By doing that you tell them they are no better then the scanner they might be using. How would you like it if I treated you like my lawnmower, or worse. Just ponder it for a bit, and remember your own child most likely will be doing one of those jobs you deem below yourself one day. Do you want them treated with so little respect?
Patrick Austin

Hahah, this is almost as good as when cops get fed up with rude suspects and beat the shit out of them.
Tdawwg

Now that’s the way to de-pressurize an airline cabin: with wit, humor, and zany grace. The road beers are the frothy cherry on top. Well played, sir.
johnocomedy

what kind of Douchy McDouche stands up while a plane is taxiing , retrieves his bag, hits a flight attendant in the head with it and, when confronted about it, calls the F/A a motherfucker?

Slater will get what he deserves. Folk hero status and, hopefully, a much better job. Unfortunately, Passenger Passengil will continue thinking he has done nothing wrong until he has a heart attack on an airplane and a flight attendant saves his life with CPR.
jonathan_v

Steven Slater handled this poorly – insulting someone on the PA, then jumping out the window? Really?!?

But at the same time, he handled this miraculously – 99/100 other people would have turned this into a physical assault against the passenger.

He totally broke down, but it seems that he had the class and professionalism to get out and not take it out on the passenger. That’s pretty amazing.

I can imagine many of the charges getting dropped, and no jury will convict him; I can’t imagine them being able to pursue the trespassing or endangerment charges.

FYI: according to published reports in newspapers , witnesses said that the luggage hit him on the head. on one of the arrest videos ( i think its the one where they arrest him at home, and not the perp walk ) , it seems that he has a prominent bloody bruise / scratch on his forehead. The NYC news stations are also reporting that he’s been taking care of his mother, who was just given 2 months to live.
BrotherPower

San Dimas High School football rules!
Anonymous

He certainly knew how to go out with style.

Way to ruin the “and he rode off into the sunset” with an arrest.
chgoliz

“Catelinet said Slater spouted the obscenities after his flight landed at JFK from Pittsburgh International Airport.”

That’s a flight time of just over 1 hour. Maybe he’d already worked another leg earlier, and getting a gash in the head is not a good day at work for anyone. Still, anger management therapy would be a good idea.

All he had to do was notify the authorities that a passenger had physically assaulted him, and the police would have been ready and waiting at the exit door when it opened.
edbh

“Slater then grabbed some beer from the plane” – This makes it for me, what a hero.
Blackbird

Sorry Manooshi, the self-involved jerks should not be forced to exit the plane last. The should be deplaned first, before they get to the gate, and walk there. Unfortunately, most of these things happen after touchdown, so there’s no way to deplane them at say….100′.
Anonymous

Commendable? Calling ahead to have the guy arrested, cavity searched, and locked up as a terrorism suspect would have been commendable.
Felton

He’s being charged with “2nd- and 4th-degree criminal mischief, 1st- and 2nd-degree reckless endangerment and criminal trespass in the 3rd degree.” Can’t get much more specific than that. :-P
- Blackbird
  
  I figured out the “criminal trespass” … that’s being on the tarmac without authorization.
  
  I think I’ve got the other two now:
  2nd- and 4th-degree criminal mischief – BEER!
  
  1st- and 2nd-degree reckless endangerment – Opening the door, deploying the slide.
  
  It may not be the most dramatic exit from a plane, but it may rank high in most dramatic entrance to unemployment.
  - Felton
    
    I wonder if the use of the PA system is part of the criminal mischief, to account for the other degree. Or maybe it was just really good beer. ;-)
    - Blackbird
      
      Could be! I don’t think it said how many road beers he took, it may have been two different kinds. : )
  - Mark Crummett
    
    “1st- and 2nd-degree reckless endangerment – Opening the door, deploying the slide.”
    
    Hey, if the flight attendant can’t deploy the chute, who can?
- hyperlexic
  
  I’m surprised he’s not sitting in Gitmo with a burlap sack over his head.
Muse

Wow! That is the most dramatic exit I can think of.

…no, now that I think about it, it would have been more dramatic if he had grabbed a parachute from the overhead compartment, opened the emergency exit at 10,000 feet and jumped out of the plane. This is a close second though.
Kerov

So, which part of what the flight attendant did should be an arrestable crime in this self-styled “Land of the Free?”

The authoritarianism radiating from America’s airports, that stench of the “New Normal,” is legitimizing a police-state mindset that is most definitely un-American.
Anonymous

The jackass passenger should no longer be allowed to fly jetblue since he doesn’t care if he endangers the other passengers.
Anonymous

the person who said Slater’s behavior was juvenile obviously has never had to deal with the public on any consistent level. People think they are always right, they want what they want and everyone else be damned. i agree that the passenger should have been forced to wait. I deal with the public EVERY day and although most are very nice, there are always those few who think they are entitled to anything and everything. They will lie and do whatever it takes to get their way. They are small spoiled children who had parents who gave them everything and taught them nothing. end of story.
Anonymous

Oh please make him head trainer for the rest of Jet Blue’s staff. A true friend of the public unlike a self entitled wanker who thinks he’s better than the rules!
Tensegrity

That’s not a very productive way to deal with the douchebag, but almost understandable. Airline employees have to put up with an amazing amount of abuse from passengers and are basically prohibited from doing anything about it.

Dang, why didn’t a bunch of passengers jump the douche and kick his ass? The only good thing about post-9/11 paranoia was the free license to beat the crap out of disruptive airline passengers.

It would’ve been cool to start yelling “Never forget! Never forget!” and go all Wesley Snipes on that guy.
- Artimus Mangilord
  
  Passenger 57!
teapot

pffft: Having re-read my comment it is quite offensive. Sorry bout that. I just get so sick of public reaction coming down on the side of the out-of-line customer, rather than the staff member who is often in the right but has to hold their tongue, because “the customer is always right” according to management who quickly weild the axe before hearing the whole story.

I also took issue with your comparison: His act “took balls” like playing chicken with a mack truck or drag-racing on a city street “takes balls”.

I am having trouble thinking of a situation where yanking an emergency slide and stealing beer could result in his death or the death of others, as your comparison implies. His act “took balls” because such grande disregard for personal consequence is rare when it comes to ones career.
Cara D

This. Is. FIERCE!! After 28 long years, THAT is how you make a damn exit! You better work, bitch!!

And who the hell cares how much the airline’s gotta pay up? They’re making us pay out the ass for peanuts and pillows!
Metlin

As a frequently flier who flew ~180,000 miles in the past year (and ~100,000+ miles so far this year), I am surprised that something like this doesn’t happen more often. Most regular passengers are batshit crazy. Those of us who are frequent fliers see the hissy fit thrown by immature passengers and it is amazing that more flight attendants don’t go JetBlue on them.

However, I must also say that most flight attendants are also not particularly pleasant to deal with. Even when people are nice to them, and even in first class. If you do not have the patience to deal with irate customers, then you’re in the wrong line of business. The problem is also one of seniority. The senior FAs tend to have a sense of entitlement — they get more choice in their base airport, they get to serve in first/business etc. But they are usually the most cynical. The junior ones are more enthusiastic, more understanding, and less jaded.

As a “senior” flight attendant, this guy doesn’t particularly sound like a happy camper. Quite obviously, the passenger was being a jerk — but so what? That’s not an excuse to pull something like this. At best, it’s a sign of immaturity and poor mental health — and an inability to continue doing his job.

He’s not alone in having a stressful job (or a stressful day). Some of us just find more productive ways of addressing our stress. If he spends time in prison for this asinine behavior, I’ll feel bad, but it’s not entirely undeserved.
lolbrandon

I work in a cubicle, so the best exit I could manage would be taking a couple of keyboards and not saying goodbye to the receptionist on the way out.
- numcrun
  
  Dilbert? Is that you?
The Hamster King

I’m sure all the outgoing passengers whose plane was yanked out of service to have its slide replaced appreciated the flight attendant’s “heroism”.

Having a beer and chewing the guy out on the PA system = cool.

Fucking up the travel plans of several hundred people = not cool.
- Anonymous
  
  Installing a new slide takes about 5 minutes.
- karl_jones
  
  Fucking up the travel plans of several hundred people = not cool.
  
  I have to side with Hamster King on this one.
  
  My second thought (after: “Cool! Airplane slide!”) was: “Isn’t this going to further mess up the already overstrained air travel system?”
  
  And then I think to myself, “Isn’t he returning violence for violence, after a fashion?” which doesn’t sweeten the deal.
- Mark Frauenfelder
  
  I would gladly have had my travel plans fucked up to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event. This is pure entertainment.
  - dwdyer
    
    If you were on the plane, your plans wouldn’t be affected. It’s gonna be the plans of the folks affected by the manhunt and whoever was supposed to board that plane to its next destination.
    
    Still, there’s something I can’t help but admire in it.
  - karl_jones
    
    Would you have my travel plans fucked up, and the travel plans of several dozen anonymous strangers fucked up, so that you can witness this once-in-a-lifetime event?
    - Donald Petersen
      
      I certainly would.
      
      I’d be late to my own funeral to see a pissed-off flight attendant take the last morsel of B.S. from a passenger he’ll ever take, call the guy out on it, and take a swan-song slide down the exit chute. Hell, if I were in a row close enough to the front, I’d slide down too and buy Slater all the beer he could drink. And spot him $100 of bail money (I’d need the rest for my own, no doubt.)
      
      Cussing out a passenger over the PA (provoked or not) has to be a career-ending move for a flight attendant. After that, you might as well slide down the chute, especially if you’ve always kinda wanted to in a career spanning three decades.
      
      Actually, I’d be mildly surprised if flight attendants don’t have to do that very act during training. It sounds like just the thing I’d need after that particular Last-Straw bit of abuse at the hands of a passenger.
      
      But seriously, I’ve had flights delayed for reasons ranging from inclement weather to a sick pilot to your garden-variety sticking piece of equipment. None of those delays seemed worth it. THIS one would. To me, anyway.
      
      I’m gonna say it and mean it: Public Safety be damned, life is just more interesting when somebody finally pushes the Under No Circumstances Push This Button button.
      - teapot
        
        +1
        
        Sorry, karl_jones – looks like you’ll be waiting.
Church

I think every for every twenty years of service you should get a pass to do something like this. [Expletive] them if they can’t take a joke.
hooeezit

Steven Slater has a Facebook Fan page. I just joined it in his support, which I honestly believe he deserves more than most other public figures. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Steven-Slater/145469768806134
Mitch

I can’t really blame the passenger for wanting to actually get off the plane as soon as it arrived at the gate instead of waiting 10 minutes for the herd of people just standing in the aisle.

A disorderly conduct citation sounds a little more appropriate for what the guy did, with the fine waived if he doesn’t get in any more trouble in the next year.
JG

Something about snatching free beer and an inflatable slide ride makes this perhaps the best ‘job is over’ airplane exit since DB Cooper!
Anonymous

Should’ve waited til he was leaving the ramp and then point at the dude and yell to the guards “He’s got a bomb!” a few hours getting cavity searched and brow beaten would change his attitude towards the ‘hired help’ Might as well use the TSA for what they’re best at and make ‘em earn their paychecks.
Anonymous

I dont blame this guy..I worked at the airport for years,the public USED to appreciate and respected you and the service you provided for them. TODAY its a totally different story, I have many friends who work at the airport today,the way the public speaks to them is totally uncalled for….yes there a some who still act like adults and respect you for the job you are doing, when you have one person after the other speak to you like your a piece a dirt hits a nerve after awhile.
Respect the person who is trying to make you vacation a pleasant experience and let them do their job. Treat others as you yourself would like to be treated, many these people who talk to others like their dirt should for just ONE day trade places with an airline employee. Lets FOLLOW THE RULES that the airlines provide for you to have a safe and wonderful experience. I just hope this makes the next jerk out there who thinks the airline employee owns them something because the bought a ticket to travel the stress that one has to deal with one you deal with spoiled brat adults….
Trotsky

Steve Slater: Rand Paul’s running mate for 2012.
Anonymous

Well, the airlines isn’t paying for his retirement anymore, so I think they can afford to re-pack the slide.

Really, though, without the beer and the slide, this is just some guy throwing a hissy fit and quitting.

WITH the beer and ladder, though, it’s AWESOME.
Anonymous

Do you guys have any idea how much it costs an airline to “uninflate” and re-arm an inflatable slide? If you knew, you’d understand just how much damage this guy caused. “An entertaining exit”. Yeah.
Anonymous

Interesting. Last time I landed in India most passengers got their luggage and was lined up at the door while the plane was still taxiing. Amazing.
Anonymous

Stupid question: If someone hits you with their luggage, can’t you just call the police since that’s, you know, assault?
Fred Ochsenhirt

The flight attendant’s exit made me laugh, but none of you would think it was so funny if you missed a connecting flight and were stuck in that shithole of an airport for hours because this flight attendant decided to act like a 12 year old.
DirkSJ

With how intense the TSA is lately the steward should have had the guy arrested for assault and/or flagged as a possible troublemaker.

Unfortunately he was too short sighted. Calling someone an expletive and having a grand exit is all well and good but that just gets you landed in jailed. He could have ruined the other guy’s life. That would have been a far more fitting punishment for failing to obey the rules and swearing at a guy just doing his job.
- Mitch
  
  Yeah, he could have thought of the long range implications and made a more responsible choice, but then he wouldn’t have brought a little joy into the lives of people who have to deal with rude and unreasonable customers. Thousands of people who have to put up with assholes at work got to vicariously live a “Take this job and shove it!” moment through him. As Tom Cruise said, “sometimes you just have to say ‘What the f_ck!’”
  - DirkSJ
    
    Yeah, he could have thought of the long range implications and made a more responsible choice, but then he wouldn’t have brought a little joy into the lives of people who have to deal with rude and unreasonable customers. Thousands of people who have to put up with assholes at work got to vicariously live a “Take this job and shove it!”
    
    They could have gotten that same buzz from watching the police (or at least TSApseudocops) drag him from the plane imo. And then the jerk could be flagged by TSA and go through hell every time he flies for the rest of his life.
Mark Crummett

Well, perhaps not the _best_ way to handle it, but still, kudos to Steve for doing what many of us would have _wanted_ to do.
Force 1

Now, what I think would have been a great idea.. have the pilot stop the plane, have the attendants detain the man for violating federal law (illegal to move in the cabin while taxiing), zip tie his arms to the armrest, and then call the police for violating federal law, along with Assault for striking a flight attendant.
EH

Hah, at least half of the commenters are Jobsworth Killjoys fo’ sho’.

Me, I celebrate every time I hear of anybody taking a dump on their boss’ desk, even figuratively.
Tweeker

He is an asshat. Deploying the emergency slide costs the airline several thousand dollars, not to mention a major regulatory headache. And as an attendant he would/should know this.
- Mark Frauenfelder
  
  If you are lucky, in your next life you may get to live as an ant, termite, or honeybee. Then you can live with others who share your strictly-business outlook.
dm10003

But when the door was open and the slide was deployed, the asshole passenger who was in such a rush STAYED SITTING IN HIS SEAT.
Trotsky

Yo, peeps.

Don’t be a Slater Hater.
jowlsey

What, no ‘Disturbing the Peace’ charge? Amateurs.
W. James Au

Someone please, please, PLEASE find the security video footage of the airplane slide exit. And bring Keyboard Cat out of retirement!
Anonymous

True, as funny as it sounds. This only works out well in the movies. Most of us secretly wish we would do the same…
surrealestate

One thing that nobody mentioned, though, is that these inflatable slides are actually fairly dangerous. When aircraft manufacturers test these slide systems out, it’s not uncommon for people to get broken bones from landing badly on the slide. It’s not a happy fun slide, they’re more for water evacuations than on the land.

Slater could have ended up with 2 broken legs from this stunt.
- EH
  
  When aircraft manufacturers test these slide systems out, it’s not uncommon for people to get broken bones from landing badly on the slide.
  
  He isn’t a people, he’s an on-board expert. Besides, none of those things did happen, did they?
Zac

Three cheers for Mr. Slater! My your legal troubles be brief and painless.
Stiv

The whole thing plays like a scene from The Simpsoms (let’s say the Conan O’BrIen days just to avoid the probably unavoidable “The Simpsons haven’t been funny in over a decade” comments which are sure to follow).

Grabbibg two beers on the way out down a slide (*yoink*). Classic.
- KurtMac
  
  The Simpsons was my first thought when I heard of this. Its either a classic “Yoink!” scene, or one where a character goes “I’ve got to go get something… from my car.” Pit-pat-pit-pat-pit-pat, Vrooom… scrreeeeee!
Foxy

I love this guy, wish there billions more like him. Balls are more important than just about anything.
- Blackbird
  
  “Balls are more important than just about anything.”
  
  Why do you think they cover them when you get an x-ray! They leave your brain exposed, but “hey! Cover your balls!”
bklynchris

The only thing I hate more than the baggage fee is overhead luggage. THe only thing I hate more than overhead luggage is my fellow passengers. The only thing I hate more than my fellow passengers is the airline industry.

And Mitch, were you the passenger 0? Wait bitch. Unless you have a connecting flight, in which case I honestly forgive you for stepping on my head to get off the plane stat.
- Mitch
  
  Come here and say that!
g0d5m15t4k3

Someone else mentioned this in the article comments at the source:

He said he was in service for 28 years? But he’s 38 years old? I’ve never had an 11 year old flight attendant before…. hmmm…

I don’t think all the charges are necessary. Maybe short jail time & anger management but really the guy who got up SHOULD be fined/arrested as well. For assault as well as standing up in the cabin while taxiing.

America is the land of Customer Service and as such, we should all be more polite to each other.
- Artful Bodger
  
  “America is the land of Customer Service”. When did this blessed event happen? When did we start celebrating Servility? I can only assume it was sometime between the filming of ‘Cool Hand Luke’ and the Clinton administration.
  
  That’s about the time we stopped actually making things and started providing “services” — financial “services”, escort “services” etc.
  - Ugly Canuck
    
    I have never made money except by making myself useful to others. And I think that’s the right and honorable way to make money.
    
    But it is a good word, “servility”.
    
    I’ve always liked this sentence, too:
    
    “A servile population, as destitute of spirit as of property.”
    
    I don’t recall to whom the author was referring. But a good sentence, IMHO.
    - Ugly Canuck
      
      Oh yeah: I admire this flight attendant’s spirit.
- Nelson.C
  
  Somebody’s typed a wrong figure somewhere, is all. Either he’s 48, or served for 18 years. Or he’s vain about his age, I know about that.
pffft

While I totally understand Slater’s emotion, I can’t say I commend his behavior. While it was dramatic and probably satisfying, he also acted just as irresponsibly as the passenger and he probably messed up some travel plans for the other passengers or at least delayed them substantially.

Funny? Yes. But, at the same time, I have to say – not cool.

And I disagree with those glorifying this guy’s behavior. His act “took balls” like playing chicken with a mack truck or drag-racing on a city street “takes balls”. Yeah, it takes balls but it’s also stupid.

He could have just told the passenger to fuck off and stood up for himself without going nuts.
- pffft
  
  teapot
  
  first, i’m not really sure why you need to get all personal and insulting. in reviewing my comment, i don’t really see how what i said could possibly be so inflammatory.
  
  second, i think you need to consider the possibility that just because i think what slater did was irresponsible and stupid (and yes, amusing), doesn’t mean that i think the way the passenger treated him was OK. it’s possible to actually hold multiple, seemingly contradictory thoughts in your head.
- liquado
  
  Totally agree with pffft. Man, there’s a lot of pent-up travel rage in here.
  
  Seriously? His job is in customer service, but he’s also in charge of protecting customers’ asses.
  
  As soon as this mofo hit him with the bag, you’ve got a dangerous passenger. Take him down, call for security @ the gate, and announce over the PA system that the asshole ratio on board just went down by one.
  
  Then crack a beer.
  
  *That* is cool.
  
  While I think the cops are overreacting to what he did do in so many charges, I’d fire his ass, too, if I were jetBlue.
skeletoncityrepeater

I don’t think this guy made the best exit – he clearly had lost it for a minute there. But the actions of the passenger are far more angering. That jackass wasn’t pushed over the edge, he just didn’t care about anyone else and, much like the post says, he will just continue going around being ‘entitled’. He’s the guy who drives on the shoulder of the freeway and cuts everyone off. He’s the guy who won’t turn to the side to get around you in a crowd. Et cetera..
Foxy

He reacted out of being a person. It was a totally candid and honest reaction and I love him for it. To hell with this “Excuse me sir, but would you stop beating me on the head with your lovely Gucci luggage and please sit in your seat for me? I truly appreciate your doing this. May I suck your toes until the captain turns off the seatbelt sign.”
- Anonymous
  
  can i just say that i love you….lmao
teapot

pffft thanks for your bullshit.

This guys behaviour is totally fine. If he just told the guy to fuck off, a whole plane-worth of pissy customers probably would’ve complained about the attendant.

This way the whole plane would’ve been pissed of at the original guy for the delay, not the attendant. Also, who hasn’t considered pulling the emergency slide while waiting to get off a plane?

Furthermore, it’s not this guy’s job to take shit from scummy fliers who can’t follow simple instructions which are in place for their own safety. Fuck the passenger, and f people like you who expect service industry employees to just bend over and take it.
Blue

He cost the airline money! Oh noes! Poor wittle airline!

Accountants! (sorry if that was a little uncalled for)

To all those voicing disapproval: if a character did this in a movie, you’d all be cheering him.

More of this kind of thing.
- teapot
  
  Ha! ESP?
Anonymous

geez… where is justice now? they arrested him for losing his temper?
Anonymous

He should have got the pilot to stop taxiing and address the guy on the PA like an angry parent.
“Mister, you put your luggage back in the bin and sit down RIGHT NOW, because this plane isn’t moving an inch until you do. I mean it! 5-4-3…”
teapot

Do you guys have any idea how much it costs an airline to “uninflate” and re-arm an inflatable slide?

He is an asshat. Deploying the emergency slide costs the airline several thousand dollars, not to mention a major regulatory headache. And as an attendant he would/should know this.

Awww the widdle teeny weeny airline can’t afford to repack a slide.

“For the full year 2009, JetBlue reported net income of $58 million”
http://investor.jetblue.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=131045&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1380104&highlight=

Fuck that. He should have pulled all the emergency slides.
aj

As I think Chris Rock once said – I don’t condone, but I understand.

Of course, I would understand a passenger doing the same during one of those lengthy tarmac delays.
Anonymous

lol…really..??? why do people think that getting up before the plane is parked at the gate, going to get him anywhere any sooner? He/she was definetly a sales ticket pax! I would have had his ass arrested in two seconds at the gate for interferance with a crew member. FAs put up with way too much bs from people….not sure if anyone else has been watching the news since 9/11 but doing anything arrogent like that can have serious consequences… Maybe people will come to realize that FAs dont go threw training to learn how to kiss an arrogent pricks ass, but to save it. Its so simple, sit down, buckle up, shut up and get to your destination as safely as possible! I support slatter and im going to go add him as a friend on FB right now…lol
el_rey_misterioso

This rare, exceptional event may just become an opportunity to reflect on our norms. Say what you want about Slater’s actions, his departure showed a degree of panache that has us thinking (and for most, quietly celebrating). Moreoever, since we are in America, I do hope that Slater manages to translate this event into some sort of reality TV air rage carnival. We need it. It might be cathartic and useful. As for his punishment…please. He is not a criminal. He has no history of violence or antisocial behavior. Hopefully he will get probation and a fine.
hershmire

Quite unprofessional of him. A real steward would have had the man arrested for refusing to follow official instruction on a flight.
Cowicide

The Wall St. Journal makes the attendant sound like the villain here:

Flight Attendant Grabs Two Beers, Slides Down the Emergency Chute

Wall Street Journal – Sean Gardiner – â€Ž33 minutes agoâ€Ž
A flight attendant, upset because a passenger refused to apologize after accidentally striking him with luggage, allegedly spewed obscenities over an airplane’s PA system and then activated and slid down the emergency escape chute …

Hmmm… but, then again the WSJ are full of conservative pricks.. so…
Anonymous

Quitting your job over a JetBlue cabin intercom? $0.

Grabbing two beers on your way out? $12.

Escaping your career via the airplaneâ€™s emergency chute and instantly becoming the most beloved disgruntled worker in America? Priceless.

http://funmidnight.com/jetblue-flight-attendant-steve-slater-jailed/
lakelady

hrm – “hit Slater with his luggage” we have no idea from this description if he bashed him over the head or bumped his shin. And imagine you’re a jet blue passenger who’s waiting at the gate to get on this plane’s next leg. You witness this exit not knowing what’s transpired all you know is that now you’re stuck in JFK (a horrid airport IMHO) for hours on end because someone decided to pull a rather juvenile prank while quiting. What puzzles me is why so many think one jerk’s obnoxious actions make the other jerk’s obnoxious actions okay. Both sides were childish and thoughtless. I’ve been in customer service jobs for years and a moment of F U provides only fleeting satisfaction. Recognizing those jerks that frustrate you have sad pathetic little lives provides much more lasting satisfaction.
- Mark Frauenfelder
  
  “hrm – “hit Slater with his luggage” we have no idea from this description if he bashed him over the head or bumped his shin.”
  
  We also have no idea from this description if the luggage was filled with caterpillars. It’s an outrage.
Trotsky

Holy shit!

Stephen Stucker lives!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8NFF04Yfm2E/R1GuOg5Z01I/AAAAAAAAAK4/jQMWlrJpwgI/s320/johnny.jpg
Trotsky

If this guy doesn’t get a reality show TOMORROW by noon, then Hollywood has officially lost all of its creative mojo.
Trotsky

Steven Slater. Stephen Stucker.

That is not a coincidence.

I want credit for blowing this conspiracy wide open.
- Felton
  
  Heheh! Freakin’ uncanny.
Anonymous

I think one reason this story resonates like it does is that it’s demonstrable proof that flying just sucks chunks these days, whether you’re a passenger or an employee.

Bureaucratic BS has created an hostile, unsustainable environment for homo sapiens. THAT’s what I empathized with in this story.

Sure, the shit was juvenile, but hey, so is rioting. Doesn’t mean there aren’t some serious issues that need attention. Now, as I’m unemployed, please excuse me while I roll this police car.
Nelson.C

No offence, but why should anyone but you care about your delay more than about someone having a work-related meltdown? You’ll be a couple of hours late â€” something that might happen anyway due to weather or bad maintenance or mucked-up paperwork â€” and this poor guy have his life delayed for several days at least, for seven years at worst.

And really, you should allow for delays in your travel arrangements anyway. It sucks, but getting insulted, assaulted and arrested sucks even more.
- Metlin
  
  And whose fault would that be?
Anonymous

i’m guessing here.

but was the expletive that he was called an offensive term for the gay?

Hate crime perhaps? He could be a victim
deckard68

Seven years in jail for this (potentially)? Yikes. It should be a civil suit — the airline collecting whatever thousand+ dollars it costs to stuff the chute back into the doorway. But to press criminal charges for something so obviously non-violent is absurd. Maybe he can claim that he was delirious from having been struck in the head by that bag, but, a jury might find that angle dishonest and give him the full seven years.
BadIdeaSociety

Traveling the the US is a real pain in the ass for customers and airline staff alike. I see customers, counter clerks, flight attendants, customers and security personnel doing crummy things to each other all the time. There should be codes of conduct for all parties involved in the process and should include expectations of patience, friendliness and clear honesty. Airlines shouldn’t oversell flights and reroute passengers without clearly stated and suitable compensation. Travelers should not be screamed at by security personnel during the queuing process without a reason (being in the wrong line when their air carrier is shoving them into random lines is not an excuse). Baggage handlers shouldn’t drop luggage pieces while loading them (I see the average handler perform a drop that resembles a pancake flip on almost every flight).

Flight attendants and pilots shouldn’t do annoying, sarcastic, snarky announcements in an attempt to try out their stand-up comedy skills. I have seen too many serious business travelers turn from relaxed, calm passengers into irritated balls of anger because they expect a certain level of professionalism from their flight crew.

Passengers should understand all the flight rules before boarding the plane. When the plane lands, there shouldn’t even be a seat belt unfastening click heard in the cabin, let alone an overhead bin being unlatched. Of course, a lot of the reason people jump the gun on grabbing their overhead bags is because the travel companies sell check-in baggage space for cargo freight and often encourage their travelers to carry everything but lighters, knives and guitars into the cabin. If the person in 16B has 4 carry-ons the person in seat 16A is probably forced to put his or her carry-on in an overhead far from his or her seat. When you are on a long flight, that is just annoying and worrisome.

The JetBlue flight attendant didn’t handle the situation well at all. He should have been smart enough to know that opening an exit on an runway without proper permission would lead to his arrest. The customer was probably a dick. I have been treated like crap by just about everyone in the travel process, and airlines and passengers in my native land (America) are probably the worst offenders. I’m not much of a screamer or a scofflaw, but I HATE dealing with airlines and passengers because of the ridiculous amount of dishonesty, mean-spiritedness, and discourtesy they show each other.
- callmeishmael
  
  I had to travel on business for a number of years. Airline travel wasn’t unpleasant when I started although it sure was when I finished. All of the behaviors that you mention began as the exception and over time they became the norm. I wouldn’t travel by air now even if they gave me free First Class tickets.
- Pipenta
  
  “Flight attendants and pilots shouldn’t do annoying, sarcastic, snarky announcements in an attempt to try out their stand-up comedy skills. I have seen too many serious business travelers turn from relaxed, calm passengers into irritated balls of anger because they expect a certain level of professionalism from their flight crew.”
  
  Project much? If a couple of jokes turned them into irritated balls of anger, they were not relaxed and calm to begin with, far from it. They were ticking time bombs and they needed therapy or medication or both.
  
  Because yeah, in the corporate world “professional” means act like an automaton and only speak the words on your company script.
  
  You know, some of use enjoy the humor. In fact, many people do.
  - BadIdeaSociety
    
    “Project much?”
    
    Not especially.
    
    It is not really projection when you see rolling eyes followed by direct statements of grievance.
    
    Making light of flight turbulence, the potential of a crash, or enticing a tour group into loud applause breaks isn’t a great idea.
    
    Some people want to get on a plane and relax.
Antinous / Moderator

Oh.

OHHH!

He hit him with his luggage.
- Felton
  
  Oh, you mean his (expletive)!
Teller

Quite a dramatic hissy fit.
Anonymous

I can certainly imagine after putting up with that sort of crap for 28 years that everyone has their breaking point and he simply reached his.

I’m 50/50 about that whole thing. Part of me (the bit that has to deal with customers daily) fully understands his reaction and other other part thinks it was a stupid reaction to the situation.
monopole

On top of the cost of repacking the slide there is the issue of the Emergency Location Transmitter which triggers when slides are deployed. This is a combination of GPS and Satellite Beacon which is monitored by a joint US/Russian Search and Rescue center. An ELT false alarm is very serious and expensive, generally resulting in a very big bill. Just sayin…
Anonymous

This man deserves a medal NOT handcuffs !! Good for you standing up for yourself !!!!
Anonymous

I was also all smiles when I read Slater’s story. To those who said maybe he should have put TSA on the asshole passenger, the one problem I could see is that the passenger probably would sue the airline for wrongful accusation. As far as I am concerned, Slater is fine in my book. Any repercussions are being thrust on him and only him.

I would also like to say shame on the WSJ blogger for not ever mentioning Slater was actually cut by the selfish passenger’s falling luggage. I would love to hear the passenger’s defense, but I’m sure he’s too much of a coward to come forward.

Those of you old enough to remember Droopy will recognize this as his Droopy moment.

I wish him the best.
Observant

I fly very often internationally and for sure, many flight attendants really take advantage of the new laws that have been passed since 9/11. I feel like I am almost in jail whenever flying now! The flimsiest excuses are now being used to call a passenger disruptive by glorified waiters and waitresses. They should keep their personal problems at the house and not bring them and the fear of losing their job with them to take out on customers. And to the fools who tell me to shut up, my first response is to say; make me!It would take more than that waiter or a few passengers to succeed in this for sure! I am very happy to see that finally one of the these idiots get what they deseve!!! More should have their ass dragged off the plane too and especially a lot of the British women working for Emirates!
- Cowicide
  
  More should have their ass dragged off the plane too and especially a lot of the British women working for Emirates!
  
  What’s wrong, did one of them deny an offer for dinner after a flight? heh……
- johnocomedy
  
  I hope that you will never need the assistance of one of those “glorified waiters and waitresses”
  
  http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/03/10/2010031000360.html
  
  http://www.consumertraveler.com/today/unsung-heroes-on-the-hudson-flight-attendants-on-us-airways-1549/
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Duncan
  
  Unfortunately, one of those “idiots” would probably do what they are trained to do: Save your bitter, jaded, self-important ass.