British Airways Suspends Pilots Over Racist & Pornographic Emails

Fun story the mid-eighties: Indian man sitting in the first class cabin on SAS. After the meal service, he placed his tray in the aisle. The purser asks him if he can kindly remove it so she can pass with the cart. He responds: “where I come from, people like you don’t have an opinion”. Her reply: “where I come from, people like you drive taxis”.

Ok upon further re-reading of this article, it does appear that the pilot subjected a fellow captain to racial abuse without that captain’s consent. This changes things; I had been under the impression that this was just a couple of lads bantering in an internal message thread. I denounce racism in the strongest possible terms and take back some of my earlier comments. Although it is expected that men will engage in ‘locker room talk’ privately it is 100% not cool to expose any non-consenting participants to this potty talk.

@Archer, I'm sorry we've burst your bright and cheery bubble about aviation. But the working conditions of the people who make all those wonderful flights happen is very relevant to a blog like OMAAT. The sad thing is that a gay man like you would rather put your noise-cancelling headphones on and sip your pre-departure champagne and just ignore it all. That kind of complacency is not how you and every other gay person earned the rights and freedoms we enjoy today. Thank god there were many more courageous and brave people in the LGBTQ community than you.

@DangerousDave, that Pakistani pilot did not "consent" to being called the n-word. When you are a pilot, and you land your "dream job" with a major full service carrier like British Airways, there is enormous pressure to fit in, not make waves, and appear to be a "team player". When you then discover you're working with a bunch of sick and twisted Alpha male a**holes who call you the n-word, you may find yourself tolerating this for as long as is bearable, but there is no way in hell he consented to it. You've got a very screwed up idea about consent. Yet another reason to go get some psychological help with your retrograde attitudes about what means to be a "man" -- before HR finds all those emails you and you're buddies have been sending around.

As ex BA crew you know nothing!!!