Oh man. The SriLankan Airlines Airbus A330 flight from Frankfurt to Colombo this past Friday, UL554, was delayed by about 15 hours. It was scheduled to depart at around 3PM and land at around 5AM, though ended up leaving the following morning at 6AM, and arriving at around 7PM. The reason? One of the pilots…
Continue reading: Ouch: SriLankan Flight Delayed By 15 Hours Due To Drunk Pilot
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I guess 15 hours is how long it took him to sober up. "Let me fly this plane! I'm fine! Where are my keys? I love you guys so much!"
why do you say Sri Lanka isn't a logical connection point between Europe and Australia or Europe and SE Asia? Sri Lanka is southeast of the middle east
Lucky,
Found a typo: "This is the last think SriLankan Airlines needs", should be thing..
@Dave No, it's any flight departing the EU.
http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm
Can you detail, perhaps write a post on how to fight for the EU261 compensation?
I want to think I have experience flying (10+yr as EXP with AA). Last year my AA flight ex MAD got cancelled, I was rebooked on a later IB flight that got me back in the US 7+ hours late. AA employees distributed EU261 fliers but when I requested compensation in the aa website I got nothing; in the end the EXP desk gave me $300 (far below the EUR600 that should have applied in my case) and a few miles.
thank you
@Dave Non EU carriers a liable if the flight departs from an EU Country so the regulation would apply.
US commercial airline pilots get arrested for showing up drunk for a flight. They need to fire this guy.
You can also claim EU261 compensation when when departing out of Switzerland. I received 600€ when my Air Canada flight was delayed. Actually earned money on that trip since my return ticket Stockholm-FLL via GVA and YUL was incredibly cheap at SEK3500 (420usd).
@julian
The easy way is to use the services of a company that files the claim for you and gets a cut (20% or something like that) if the claim is successful. They know all the ins and outs of filing the claim, so their success rate is much higher. One of those companies is Air Help (google them or go to airhelp dot com), and I've heard good things about them (never used them myself).
The pilot should definitely be sanctioned. There were 274 lives that could've been in his drunk hands.
That's what the FO is for... "Boss, I got this. Shut up, get some sleep, we'll be on autopilot the whole way..." And hope for the best!
Just want to add some humor, and would NEVER want to be a pax on that flight. Good call from the crew.
If I were the crew I would speak up too, even if that means losing the job. After all, it's their life at stake too, not just the passengers.