A British Airways captain has reportedly been caught stealing food at the carrier’s headquarters, which is… quite something.
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British Airways training captain in trouble for theft
A British Airways pilot is accused of stealing food from the carrier’s headquarters. Specifically, the pilot in question is a veteran captain at the airline who has been employed for over two decades, and he’s an Airbus A380 training captain.
The A380 is British Airways’ biggest plane, and training captains train other pilots on the aircraft (which is why he spent a lot of time at headquarters, rather than at at the airport). We can assume he was among British Airways’ best paid pilots, raking in £170,000 per year, or more.
According to the story, the pilot was caught on CCTV, stealing food and drinks from the self-serve “pavement cafe” at British Airways’ Waterside headquarters. The cafe sells things like sausage rolls, sandwiches, chips, cookies, coffee, etc. The idea is that you’re supposed to then check yourself out and pay, but this captain was found to be skipping the payment process, and just treating the cafe as his pantry.
This captain got off with a warning for his behavior
The British Airways captain was reportedly called into a manager’s office, and asked why he repeatedly took things from the cafe without paying. Interestingly, it sounds like the captain simply got off with a warning, and no serious action was taken against him. As one insider described it:
“His behaviour left bosses dumbfounded. Anyone can make a mistake once but this was a deliberate act repeated regularly. It beggars belief someone on £170,000 a year could shoplift and save himself a few pennies on a daily basis. Several senior managers were also seen refusing to pay for food and coffee — and given a warning over their future conduct. If this had been cabin crew members on less than £30,000 a year, they would have been shown the door already. The whole thing stinks.”
Indeed, I think that’s very true. If the consistent theft was from a flight attendant, they would’ve almost certainly been terminated, even if it had happened fewer times. Meanwhile because this was a senior captain (and one involved in training), he just received a warning.
Bottom line
A British Airways Airbus A380 training captain has been caught repeatedly stealing food and drinks at the carrier’s headquarters. The building has a self-serve cafe that seemingly uses the honor system, and patrons are supposed to check themselves out and pay.
However, it seems there was quite a bit of theft there, causing the company to take action. Among those caught was a British Airways A380 captain, who was found to be repeatedly taking items without paying. Go figure he only got a warning, while I imagine that lower rank employees would’ve gotten much more severe punishment.
What do you make of this theft?
Funny how senior people can develop a sense of entitlement that can lead to irresponsible action such as this. Think we might have seen a recent example of this behaviour in government. Like shoplifting - usually no consequences.
A warning and be forced to repay might have been more appropriate. But a total bone head move on his part.
Who could possibly blame him? You think that eating choices of what BA buys from their catering vendor is edible time after time?
Get real people. Maybe you should write about how BA still illegally charges $1,000 in "fuel" surcharge fees for mile redemption flights. They did so even when oil was below $0.
If anyone is thief here it's their BA/IGA (whatever they want to call themselves now) management.
It also...
Who could possibly blame him? You think that eating choices of what BA buys from their catering vendor is edible time after time?
Get real people. Maybe you should write about how BA still illegally charges $1,000 in "fuel" surcharge fees for mile redemption flights. They did so even when oil was below $0.
If anyone is thief here it's their BA/IGA (whatever they want to call themselves now) management.
It also worked on trust - you fly with us and trust us we will reward you with lavish tickets. Which then turned to be just another revenue stream for them and after fliers pay surcharges - which far far far higher than any other airline (not owned by them).
They are the worst bunch - well maybe just below Doug Parker - and they get rewarded for such behaviour. How do they expect any of their employees to behave any differently. They lead by example and this is just the result of that.
On the one hand, it does seem disproportionate to end his decades-long career over stealing maybe $100 worth of food in total.
I don't know his motivations. Maybe he really is strapped for cash for whatever reason. More likely, I'm guessing it's a power thing: he looks at the poor cashier as he skips the counter as if to say "I'm a senior captain, what are you going to do about it?" If that's the...
On the one hand, it does seem disproportionate to end his decades-long career over stealing maybe $100 worth of food in total.
I don't know his motivations. Maybe he really is strapped for cash for whatever reason. More likely, I'm guessing it's a power thing: he looks at the poor cashier as he skips the counter as if to say "I'm a senior captain, what are you going to do about it?" If that's the motivation, that attitude is toxic and dangerous and he's probably a nightmare to work with. The petty theft is just an indication of a much more serious personality defect.
I think a stiff fine ($10,000?) and maybe a week working as a trainee in the shop would be a solid response. Give him a second change and also send the message to everyone else "that's not how we behave here."
A most sensible suggestion.
Perhaps a month's pay to make it proportional to his position.
(Some countries charge speeding tickets as % of income - I think Switzerland and Finland)
The punishment does need to be enough to register rather than just a warning.
But termination does seem overkill, and would harm the employer who is the victim.
More generally, punishments seem to be digital - too little to be...
A most sensible suggestion.
Perhaps a month's pay to make it proportional to his position.
(Some countries charge speeding tickets as % of income - I think Switzerland and Finland)
The punishment does need to be enough to register rather than just a warning.
But termination does seem overkill, and would harm the employer who is the victim.
More generally, punishments seem to be digital - too little to be felt, or runining a life (and motivating the perpetrator towards a life of more serious crime)
Training a new captain is way more expensive than training a new FA. Makes sense to keep him.
If the pilot can't be trusted to pay for his food at a café with the honor system then how can he be trusted to with hundreds of lives in an airplane?
This isn’t a joke. In major cities like London, Chicago, and New York, even $200,000 isn’t always enough to support a family. Just commuting to work is a major cost.
I know people making $150,000—a salary many would call privileged—who still struggle. They don’t have kids, yet carry massive student debt of $250K or more on top of mortgage payments. For them, it feels like the price they paid to earn that salary is greater...
This isn’t a joke. In major cities like London, Chicago, and New York, even $200,000 isn’t always enough to support a family. Just commuting to work is a major cost.
I know people making $150,000—a salary many would call privileged—who still struggle. They don’t have kids, yet carry massive student debt of $250K or more on top of mortgage payments. For them, it feels like the price they paid to earn that salary is greater than the benefit. Seasoned pilots likely feel the same way about their own pay offers.
The reality is that in these cities, over half of people live paycheck to paycheck. Middle-class incomes no longer guarantee a comfortable life because the cost of getting there—education, housing, everything—outstrips the returns.
So when executives act surprised by these concerns, it just proves how disconnected they are from everyday reality.
This does not justify theft. The pilot has shown he can't be trusted and should have been fired. If I am going to out my life in the hands of a pilot I want one that I can trust.
I don't doubt what you're saying but want to point out if you can't get by on $150K, how on earth are FAs earning not event a quarter of that supposed to survive? And yet they still have to pay for their meals...
Ben there's a bunch of snafus from United over in Japan, specifically over this September weekend including canceled flights, delayed, and even false fire alarm diversions from UA32. Would like to see some coverage of how United is definitely stretching these old 737-800 on routes intended to funnel to major United hubs here in Asia.
This is truly a newsworthy story.
As much as it is an unfair thing to say, you can replace an FA easily, but not an a380 captain. So in that sense, the calculus to just give warnings to him while FA will probably receive something much severe is completely logical