Japan Airlines just can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to employees and their alcohol consumption. Ordinarily it’s the pilots who get in trouble, but here’s a case where a senior flight attendant got in trouble, and it’ll have major implications for all flight attendants.
Continue reading: Ouch: Japan Airlines Fully Bans Flight Attendants From Drinking On Layovers
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Well if flight attendants are there "for our safety" then this seems like a no brainer. That and it seems like Japan Airlines doesn't want their crew members to resemble fat, drunk slobs like we see on U.S. carriers.
This is the reason why US airlines are the best in the world. We have the military grade discipline and mental fortitude in all our people to be able to take alcohol and operate at optimal capacity unlike the staff that festers in JAL.
"Military grade" indeed, just ask Pete Kegsmith, who appears to be always severely impaired by a long history of alcoholism and drug addiction, may people say.
OORAH!
Oh, wait, he wasn't a US Marine, he was in the National Guard reservist. So he was pretend military.
I'm not sure why crew should be drinking at night. Or at least if they have a less than a 24 hour layover. You're on company business.
I think with US carriers, or at least with the FAA, cabin crew's last drink can be 8 hours before duty time. Although the airline's might have a stricter rule.
However, I wouldn't consider flight attendants to be on company business given they are not being paid. Once they are off the plane, they are on their own time. It would be no different than if they landed off a flight, went home, and went back to work the following morning.
Willy, Pete Kegsmith, is that the real name of the person who logs in as ORD …. (and all that gubbins)?
National Guard be dammed, a weekend warrior, well I never. Was he logistics, blanket stacker in reality?
Would you get a genius to work as a toilet cleaner?
Pete, Trump and his administration are natural born geniuses, they were gifted, why would you want them to fight in the front line when their brains are worth more than hundreds if not thousands of soldiers combined.
Realistically I can probably drive and not crash at 0.08, but that doesn't mean I'm going to. Rules aren't made just for me, they're made for all possibilities
I agree. The involved values are very low or strict. Converted into BAC values the test came out as 0.46 and 0.22 for the crew member who did the test.
In many European countries the limit for driving is 0,5 BAC which converts to 0,25 mg/L.
I’m not against this new rule. Of course it’s nice to have a drink on a layover but you are on that layover because of your job. And the behaviour of the flight attendant is totally irresponsible. I’ve had a drink more than 12 hours before duty and when I woke up I sensed the alcohol wasn’t 100% out of my system, so I called in sick. That’s just common sense.
How does one sense the alcohol isn't 100% out of the system ? After one wakes up it's a new day .
What exactly is a FA going to do wrong with that little alcohol left on their breath?
Serious question.
Perhaps lay your knife at 91 degrees not 90 angle?
Strange that cabin crew can't drink on layovers but pilots (who are more directly responsible for flight safety) still can?
"Willy, Pete Kegsmith..."
No, it's a reference to the unqualified fat orange Nazi toady who pretends to function as the US secretary of defense when not sucking down liquor.
FAA regulation is 8 hours plus a BAC of below 0.04%. However, most carriers have in their programs (which means once govt approved is as good as a regulation) is 0.00% and/or a combination of 8 to 12 hours.
Testing is only done either as a random (in which case a non-company service basically determines the who and sends a collector out) or as reasonable suspicion in which case it requires a member of management usually to have to run through the checklist and document (as a station manager I've had to do this before on a F/A or three). Of course if they get injured or are in an accident/incident they get tested as a matter of course. But basically in the US, a F/A can call sick and not get tested if not observed - as long as they can deal with the consequences of calling out sick on-line which usually means they have to get checked out by a doctor in the city where they called out.
The driving limit in many European countries is 0.05%, as it is in Australia and New Zealand. In Japan the driving limit is 0.03%. If company policy and the law means that airline crews need a negative alcohol screen, then they need a negative alcohol screen. It's not difficult to set an alarm on one's phone as a reminder to stop drinking at a specific time.
George, I suppose you never have a drink on Tuesday evening.
You're within 24 hours of being on the job again, after all.
They claim they had "a couple" of glasses of wine but were still registering by THE NEXT MORNING? Yeah, they were completely soused for it to have not abated by the next morning!
Japan Airlines (JAL) pilots are strictly prohibited from drinking within 24 hours of flight duty. Following past incidents, JAL extended its "bottle-to-throttle" rule from 12 to 24 hours and outright banned pilots from consuming alcohol during work layovers.
Ben should post another version of this post, changing "flight attendant" to "safety marshal." If the people up front in charge of keeping the plane from crashing can't drink, the people in back in charge of getting me off it when it does, should be subject to the same rules.
Because the Japanese are notoriously great at eating Chinese food? Or that they are great at taking spicy food?
lol lol lol lol lol
This issue is not unique to JAL or flight crews. FOCUS ON THAT instead of begging that question.
WE tend to allow consumption to the point that numeric (objective) standards exist, WORSE we put such a high premium on attendance and performance that impaired people elect to try the BAC-Lottery. Captain Kelsey on YT has an entire ep dedicated to "that one pilot" with a 1.75L in his carryon and more in his system that was "offered an out" by the investigator who suggested he call in sick and walk away.
Our systems reward showing up and doing the job, NOT safety or health. THAT MUST CHANGE. JAL's CEO apologizing won't correct a worldwide cultural lack of leeway.
THINK OF THE CHILDREN. Do you want your kid's school bus driver "chancing" an 0.04% or can he/she call in sick last minute, inconvenience scheduling and flow, or some third option.
Of course --as in all other employee matters-- if it's a pattern behavior reach out and help. Don't judge. It's not aircrews or JAL or your local retiree driving that bus. It's all of them.
> Too many kung pao chicken! Lol
I suppose adding "Lol" doesn't make it a racial slur at all. After all, an American-Chinese dish is the reason Japanese flight attendants got tipsy beyond the numbers.
Our global village prizes attendance over safety -- until the light blinks red. If you're in a position of management or rulemaking focus on employee and cutomer safety, not who got busted and how and when.