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?
170,000 pounds a year is really low pay for a pilot. Not an excuse. If I made 170,000 pounds a month, I would still be pretty upset.
I have heard many stories from former colleagues who worked as FA regarding pilots.
They can steal, they can drink, they can take drugs and cheat on their wives but airlines will always be understanding with them because they are the ones making money for them while a single wrong move from a FA will show him/her the door
You can’t compare FAs and Pilots in the same sentence when it comes to evaluating labor. Pilots have a way higher opportunity cost to replace than FAs. You can train an FA in a month, it takes years to be a pilot. What does cheating on your spouse have anything to do with flying a plane. Drugs and alcohol are a different story and there are clear guidelines on that. Actually Pilots have it harder on alcohol guidelines than FAs.
Your example is naive.
I can understand that the Airline is reluctant to fire a senior captain. This is not about fairness but about worth, it is dificult to get experienced captains and the company probably invested significantly in his training etc.
For this to be fair however they should have docked a fair amount from his salary or punished him in another way.
100%.
Hence why they would happily and quickly fire an FA or customer service agent as they can quickly be replaced by a willing and able pool of hopefuls waiting in the wings.
Pilots, not so easy especially if BA have significantly invested in their training and development.
Still stinks though. This Captain should absolutely have some ramifications for his/her/their actions.
it is BA who one takes at the last resort. Well I do. I think they should be made to drop the British. Just call themselves IAG Airlines.
Well by using that analogy you'd call Brussels Airlines Belgium - Germany Airlines and KLM Air France-Netherlands.
They are just business units and brands. No different to many other businesses or bands that have the word 'British' in their title yet owned by some degree by non-UK entities.
Just be nice. No hate
I say sack the lot of them.
I've been there, where I forgot to stop at the atm on way to work and just want a snackie. I would have told the Supervisor, Sorry, I was famished and took a Bounty and will pay tomorrow....Its that simple... But i don''t even think this pilot showed remorse, for he kept doing it again !!!1
As a token of punishment and warning
Management can withhold his annual increment for one year that will cover
The cost of shoplifted foods
Bad on him for stealing, but OTOH it's pretty naive of BA to think that leaving a cafe full of food unattended wouldn't create temptation, or maybe that's what they wanted to occur, to weed out the bad apples.
Brits are cheap bastards. Always have been, always will be.
Not all Brits are cheap bastards . Keep your rude comments to yourself please or you will be removed from this site
how many tens of thousands would it cost to train his replacement.....how many tens of dollars would it cost to replace a f/a...........that is why he gets a slap..............
One of my very well compensated senior manager counterparts was fired for helping himself to soup more than once from the company cafeteria. His excuse..."i thought it was a management benefit".
He's a thief. He should have been dismissed immediately.
The most shocking part of this for me is that a veteran training captain on an A380 at a first world legacy airline only makes ~$230k/year. The US equivalent would be making nearly twice as much.....
But then again, the per capita GDP of Poland is about to overtake the once mighty UK.
UK salaries have been low in all sectors for decades.
Well, at least their property prices are equally low.
Oh wait...
Honor is highly overrated. Just ask our president. He will tell you.
One part of the story I completely agree with - if it had been one of the crew or some other low paid front line staff member they would have been given the sack.
It has happened many time before. When both pilots and cabin crew have been in trouble at crew hotels during layover and the pilot will get a warning whilst the cabin crew will be shown the door.
I've seen execs who make seven figures pass off family dinners as business lunches, exaggerate mileage on expense forms and otherwise nickle and dime their employers. It's not that they're needy, they're just entitled.
Being a former cabin crew, I am not surprised. It is them and us when it comes to treatment. A cabin crew would certainly have been sacked.
I remember a very senior B757 captain who used to take the toilet rolls prior to leaving the plane.
One of the trick was to go out together to a restaurant. Some captain were known for indulging into expensive food and alcohol and share their bill with the people who ate less or drunk less.
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)
There was no cashier to look down upon. It was a self check out. He was just being cheap.
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?
"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?"
Because there's a difference between pilfering a lot of food in an honor system cafe and creating an aviation incident, that's how.
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.
¡NEWSFLASH!
THIS IS NOT THE NEW YORK TIMES, NOR IS IT A NEWS BLOG.
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