A pastor is facing up to one year in prison, after assaulting his wife because she received an upgrade to first class, while he didn’t. As it turns out, there was a pattern of abuse, but this upgrade incident is what made the wife finally come forward, and (hopefully) no longer tolerate his behavior…
In this post:
Alaska first class upgrade causes marital issues
This incident happened on July 2, 2024, on Alaska Airlines flight AS275 from Seattle (SEA) to Anchorage (ANC). A 75-year-old evangelical pastor named Roger Allan Holmberg Sr. was traveling with his 59-year-old wife. They had only been married for around 18 months, as Holmberg lost his previous wife shortly before that.
What precipitated this incident is that Holmberg’s wife received an upgrade to first class, while Holmberg didn’t. It’s not clear if she had elite status and he didn’t, if she just had higher elite status or a higher priority, or what.
Here’s what happened on this flight, according to the criminal complaint:
- Shortly after the 3.5 hour flight departed, Holmberg came up to his wife in first class and said “how the hell did you get the upgrade?”
- She responded by saying “I’m a gold point member,” and “don’t speak to me like that”
- Then during a second interaction, Holmberg walked up to his wife in first class, handed her his phone, told her to read what was on the screen, and then “gave her the finger”
- During a third confrontation, he “pushed in front of” his wife’s seat mate and “attempted to swing his arm towards the victim,” and while the seat mate “leaned forward to block the attempted strike, Holmberg still appeared to strike the top of the victim’s head with his hand”
At this point, an off-duty police officer seated a row in front of Holmberg’s wife noticed the disturbance, and told Holmberg that if he continued with his behavior, he would be put in handcuffs. At that point the disruptions stopped.
When the flight landed, it was met by an FBI special agent, plus an Anchorage Airport police officer. Holmberg was arrested on one count of simple assault. If convicted at trial, he faces up to a year in prison. Furthermore, Holmberg has now been banned from taking future flights with Alaska Airlines.
Unfortunately there was a larger pattern of abuse
Sadly this isn’t some cute story about how one should handle first class upgrades in a relationship when one person gets the upgrade and the other doesn’t. Quite to the contrary, this incident exposed a much larger problem.
Once talking to authorities at Anchorage Airport, Holmberg’s wife admitted that her husband had a history of abusing her. She talked about how he broke her finger last September, and she confirmed that he “struck her in the head with the back of his knuckles” aboard the plane, adding that he “knew [she] had epilepsy and that contact to [her] head could cause a seizure.”
She had reportedly thought of reporting abuse in the past, but never did. However, this incident finally made her want to report it.
Holmberg admitted that he and his wife had marital issues, and had been seeing a counselor, in an attempt to improve the relationship. However, he claimed that the problems were entirely her fault (yeah, he definitely sounds like a reasonable guy). Holmberg claims that his wife was disrespectful to him and often had anger issues.
Related to this specific upgrade incident, Holmberg said he was upset about his wife’s upgrade to first class, “because he wanted his wife to travel with him and sit next to him.” He also said that he didn’t actually strike her, but rather he “tapped his wife on the head in passing to get her attention.”
Bottom line
While couples take varying approaches to splitting first class upgrades, one thing is for sure — abusing your spouse over an upgrade isn’t okay. That’s exactly what one 75-year-old pastor did on a recent Alaska Airlines flight, to his newlywed wife no less.
If the guy behaves like this in public, I can only imagine how he behaves behind closed doors. It’s sad, but it seems that this public incident is what the wife needed to finally bring charges against him and hold him accountable.
What do you make of this upgrade incident?
Whether it’s an evangelical pastor striking his wife or a Catholic priest abusing a child. There is definitely something wrong with the religion industry in this country!
Ah, good old evangelical Christian love. Now available in first class!
I love that he got banned from AS! It’s a long walk home from there to Seattle.
I believe people like pastor have always existed but social media brings occurrences too forefront.
He "lost" his previous wife ? More likely he murdered her ! These pastors are by and large evil scam merchants running cults.
So a guy (husband) decks a woman (wife). And this occurs on an airplane. So it makes this blog? If the guy decks the woman when he gets home, will it make this blog?
They have been married for 18 months and he is 16 years older than her. What is wrong about this picture/marriage? It cannot be about money. Or for that matter, sex. Maybe faith?
If she has an in for...
So a guy (husband) decks a woman (wife). And this occurs on an airplane. So it makes this blog? If the guy decks the woman when he gets home, will it make this blog?
They have been married for 18 months and he is 16 years older than her. What is wrong about this picture/marriage? It cannot be about money. Or for that matter, sex. Maybe faith?
If she has an in for airline upgrades that he doesn't have an advantage, what else does she have that she is keeping from him?
When they do not compare boarding passes at the gate and they don't notice that they aren't sitting together?
The guy confronts the wife later?
The guy confronts the wife a second time to give her a fat lip?
What is the basis of this marriage? What are they keeping from each other?
Lucky, Baby... There are more questions that you needed to ask before you post junk like this.
Me thinks that you posted this because: 1. The man was a man of the cloth. 2. The story contained domestic violence. 3. The off duty cop makes this post was a train wreck from the very beginning. Please tell me that you thought twice before you posted this.
My question is... What does this have to do with a travel blog? Don't get me wrong, a man decking a woman is bad, but I will go towards the blogs where I can support victums of domestic violence.
A man physically assaults his wife who also has epilepsy and she even reveals that he has broken her finger in the past and you can actually label this post as "junk"?
In response to your numbered questions above:
"1. The man was a man of the cloth." - a man of the cloth? You mean an abusive bully who hides behind his title of "pastor" and somehow expects unquestionable deference? Religion is the...
A man physically assaults his wife who also has epilepsy and she even reveals that he has broken her finger in the past and you can actually label this post as "junk"?
In response to your numbered questions above:
"1. The man was a man of the cloth." - a man of the cloth? You mean an abusive bully who hides behind his title of "pastor" and somehow expects unquestionable deference? Religion is the greatest social evil in the world. It is the cancer in the body of humanity.
"2. The story contained domestic violence." - and this domestic violence occurred on an airplane and the crew stepped up (as did the police officer). It happened on an airplane and it also highlights a huge problem we have in our society - one that is most often unreported and directed at women.
"3. The off duty cop makes this post was a train wreck from the very beginning." - um what? The cop steps in and makes the abusive man stop what he's doing? And that makes him a train wreck? Wow, not sure how you connected the dots there.
Thank you, Ben, for sharing this story. It is indeed relevant and necessary.
What is wrong with you?
You sound like an abuser yourself that's why you're taking the side of an abuser. Your post itself is abusive.
Kudos to Ben who is not afraid to cover worthy controversial topics. Those who object to this post are offended that their religion receives negative publicity. Remember Jimmy Baker's controversy and Jim Swagger's "I have sinned' confession? I am always suspicious of the true identity of 00those who participated in the Black Lives Matter and antiwar protests but covered their faces and bodies: Those who were engaged in collateral damages and bodily injuries. Evangelical Christians...
Kudos to Ben who is not afraid to cover worthy controversial topics. Those who object to this post are offended that their religion receives negative publicity. Remember Jimmy Baker's controversy and Jim Swagger's "I have sinned' confession? I am always suspicious of the true identity of 00those who participated in the Black Lives Matter and antiwar protests but covered their faces and bodies: Those who were engaged in collateral damages and bodily injuries. Evangelical Christians only support and favor straight white males. They are anti gays and lesbians, trans people, females and non-whites. Eight years ago, I had a conversation with a baptist from Texas. He lectured me about his religion for few minutes when I interrupted him:
Me: Do you have a female pastor in your church?
Him: No. They are not qualified for the position.
I glanced over to his wife but her eyes were glued to the bible in her hands.
Me: Who decides? A panel of male chauvinists?
Him: Women belong in the kitchen.
When I read Matt defend the Jewish male who refused to sit next to a woman and gaslight his readers by saying " He wanted to elevate women", I disputed his claim and stated that all religions in the world discriminate against women. I posted my comment a month before the Kansas Chief player's condescending speech at a private female college's graduation went viral. There is a remote chance that we will have a female president in our life time.
Nail the bastard! I hate it when men use violence towards women. Then we know that they are weak.
Kudos to Alaska Airlines and the policeman.
Sounds like this “pastor” dude is cut from the same cloth as those Christianist, Islamist and Judaist “religious leaders” who think it’s religiously permissible to beat their children and wives under some circumstances and in some ways. That’s what intransigent “literalism” and “originalism” from old texts means today.
Everyone should ask themselves how the non-sexual deity of the Abrahamic faiths ever got on board misogyny and “permitted” abuse of women and children by husbands but...
Sounds like this “pastor” dude is cut from the same cloth as those Christianist, Islamist and Judaist “religious leaders” who think it’s religiously permissible to beat their children and wives under some circumstances and in some ways. That’s what intransigent “literalism” and “originalism” from old texts means today.
Everyone should ask themselves how the non-sexual deity of the Abrahamic faiths ever got on board misogyny and “permitted” abuse of women and children by husbands but not equal rights for women to do that same abuse to husbands.
It’s sort of like history: it’s based on which people had the power at the time and who wrote the stuff that believers blindly accept because of a big leap of faith that they may not even think about as involving a leap of faith.
"Abusive" and "Pastor" is redundant.
Just in case, they should investigate how he "lost" his previous wife. Just saying.
Evangelical Pastor is all I needed for this story. They are the crème de la crème of human beings along with the Jihadists.
“They are the crème de la crème of human beings along with the Jihadists.”
I do not think “crème de la crème” means what you think it means.
In case it wasn’t apparent, I was being sarcastic.
Regretfully, people lost ability to recognize irony and sarcasm, I am afraid
No major religion seems exempted from having violent and perverted weirdos in their midst and claiming religious authority to engage in violence on behalf of whatever they want. All major religions seem to have some such “very religious” abusive nutcases. Just look at the Lev Tahor group that seems to hop from country to country in order to try to evade investigation and prosecution for abusive practices toward children and women.
This man has a disability and should be accommodated by a free first class seat. If not, he should sue for big bucks. A lawyer could start a class action lawsuit and get millions in legal fees as a settlement and passengers getting a coupon for 1 frequent flyer mile.
What a stupid, pointless. useless comment.
Agreed! Incidentally, nobody likes lawyers until they need one.
I would look into the part where he “lost” his previous wife more closely….just sayin’…
I'm glad Ben reported this story. Domestic violence is sadly common and can occur anywhere, including on airplanes. The seat mate who tried to block the strike and the nearby off-duty police officer are examples of how bystanders can intervene to help the victim.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24/7 for those looking for help or resources at 1 (800) 799-7233.
Not OMATT worthy.
Agreed. This is trash.
Agreed but at least this story isn’t littered with Twitter posts.
Ben deserves a lot more credit than you realize.
This is a good controversial subject that can potentially bait in a lot of clicks and comments.
This is way more bait worthy than the TMZ thought leader.
You're welcome.
You know you can just not open the post if you're not interested.
For example, I'm not at all interested in articles about hotels, hotel reviews or any sort of hotel news. As such, not once in the last 8 years since I've been reading this blog have I opened a post about hotels. Consider not clicking on stuff that doesn't interest you.
Agreed. Just trashy gossip.
So then don't read it. Problem solved. You're this desperate for attention?
Whether something is omatt worthy is up to one person, ben not an entity, not an organization and definitely not you. But the fact that you are allegedly not interested but took the time to open the post and comment on it either says you are interested to some degree or you are a standard entitled individual who thinks the world should revolve around your personal interest.
Looks like all the abusers are joining together to call the story trash..
If It had been Jesus, and Mary Magdalene got the upgrade, would Jesus have smacked Mary?
Doubtful.
This “pastor” is a phony.
Aren't they all?
Jesus would convert the water into wine. That is, domestic economy into international first class. Upgrades for everyone!
He loved to revolt and even violently tossed the furniture. Seemed to be more of a socialist/leftist revolutionary than a “conservative” preaching “prosperity gospel”.
I wish you wouldn't write about this kind of stuff Ben - and the snakes post too. Articles like this are why I've stopped reading Gary's blog. You are too good for this.
What’s wrong with this post?
What the hell is a "gold point member"?
@ It's Rude -- I assume MVP Gold, or something. People sometimes don't get the jargon right...
People sometimes don't get the "supreme" right...
A lowly "gold" member is nothing to "God" member.
The clergy privilege of working with young children.
Now with wife.
What's next for the Trinity?
This is the FFP equivalent of correcting someone for calling their Starbucks coffee size as “large”. Not everyone cares about corporate branding names.