A British Airways captain has reportedly been caught stealing food at the carrier’s headquarters, which is… quite something.
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?
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