Here’s a wild story… on the plus side, at least they only consumed these sweets after the flight?
In this post:
Sweet gift from British Airways passenger backfires
Once in a while you’ll see passengers bring gifts for airline crews, as a small thank you for good service. The most common gift is something like cookies or chocolate.
Last week, on a British Airways flight from London (LHR) to Los Angeles (LAX), a passenger gave a bag of gummy bears to the crew, seemingly as a thank you. While the crew was on the bus to the hotel after landing in California, a few of them split some of the gummy bears, though started to not feel well.
After closer inspection, it was determined that these were actually edibles, with the package containing a staggering 300mg of THC. Three of the crew members reportedly consumed the bulk of the edibles, and started feeling totally out of control, and they became panicked and scared. As their symptoms became worse, they were ultimately taken to a hospital.
Those crew members couldn’t work the return flight the following day, but instead, were deadheaded back days later, as passengers. The airline is now reportedly looking for the passenger who gifted these gummies to the crew. While airline crews are drug tested, this crew isn’t in trouble, since it was an honest mistake.
In a statement, the airline said that “a small number of our crew reported feeling unwell at their hotel and have since recovered,” and “we sent a replacement crew to operate the return flight and there was no impact on our customers.”
I have so many questions about this incident…
On some level, there’s almost a humorous element to this story, as it sounds like something straight out of a movie. However, it really isn’t a laughing matter — if the crew had consumed these on the flight, then this could’ve become a really bad situation.
For that matter, 300mg of THC is a massive amount. If three people had consumed the entire bag, that would be an average of 100mg of THC per person, which is way beyond what anyone would want.
But I’m really curious about the motives here:
- First of all, traveling internationally with cannabis poses some risks and could lead to punishment, so that seems like a risky practical joke to play (not even accounting for the core issue of safety)
- What was the passenger’s goal with giving the crew these gummies? Did they think it was funny, did they assume the crew would read the label about the contents, or what?
- For that matter, were the gummies even in the original, sealed packaging? And if so, did the crew just not read the packaging?
Generally speaking, airline crews are allowed to accept packaged snacks as gifts, though they’ll typically mostly consume them after the flight, just to be on the safe side. One wonders if British Airways might now change its policy on crews accepting gifts, to prevent something like this in the future?
Obviously the passenger should’ve never given such a gift to the crew, but I do think crews should have some duty to actually read the label of what they consume, assuming it wasn’t in some sort of hidden packaging.
Bottom line
A British Airways crew had a bit more excitement than they bargained for, after a passenger gifted them gummies. What they didn’t seem to realize is that they were cannabis treats. Fortunately they only consumed them on the shuttle after the flight. Unfortunately the bag had 300mg of THC, causing some flight attendants to be sent to the hospital (though they were fine).
One certainly wonders what the passenger’s motive was in gifting these. For that matter, I also don’t understand if/why the crew didn’t read the packaging. But goodness, what a story!
What do you make of this British Airways crew cannabis story?
Maybe the passenger got cold feet and “gifted” the bag to the crew.
Crews should not be accepting "gifts" from customers. In my company anyone who accepts this type of bribery gets fired on the spot.
“that would be an average of 100mg of THC per person, which is way beyond what anyone would want.”
How much THC would one want? Asking for a friend.
In Washington State, edibles are typically packaged into 10 mg serving sizes.
There's no guarantee that only airline staff would consume the gummies. Suppose one of the crew took the bag home and a toddler or an elderly person or a cancer patient on chemo helped themselves. This nearly happened to me when I was recovering from brain surgery. There was more in that brownie in the fridge than I thought. The guilty party was a family member who thought the entire thing was hilarious. He's lucky to be alive.
"100mg of THC per person, which is way beyond what anyone would want."
You do realize that frequent users build up tolerances and plenty of people frequently consume more than this, yes?
You'd have to be one heck of a stoner to be able to handle 100mg of THC on the regular.
In 2026, why is anyone consuming something that a stranger gave them?
It's quite common across the industry.
Also, isn’t bringing THC gummies into the US against the law? Even across state lines domestically, for that matter?
Respectable airline workers do NOT take gifts and tips from customers!
Balderdash Joey, have you ever been allowed onboard a “Respectable airline”?
That's false,
Am I too gullible to think it could have been entirely an innocent mistake? Like the passenger didn’t know what they were either (perhaps it was purchased outside the UK in a jurisdiction where it’s legal)? Or maybe the passenger mixed up the THC gummies with plain gummies and gifted the wrong bag?
After closer inspection they saw the package said "300mg THC". LOL. As if. They knew what they were consuming, they just didn't know how to consume it.
This is as hilarious as it is terrifying.
Surely BA will immediately introduce a policy that no crew can accept gifts from passengers.
Or not accept gifts that are not factory sealed. nothing homemade.
Not accepting gifts from pax should have been in place from day 1.
Don’t take candy from strangers.
Don't take anything from strangers.
I never understand why a paying passenger wants to give a gift to a flight attendant. Is that like an advance tip for better service?
Seasoned travellers appreciate good service. There is absolutely nothing wrong with rewarding good service, freely given by an attentive crew. The rewards might be monetary, in goods or words as appropriate.
In this day and age there are a few English words which have been forgotten by some who profess to speak a form English. I will now offer a few examples ….
“Please, thank you, I’m sorry, may I have”.
Are hardly ever...
Seasoned travellers appreciate good service. There is absolutely nothing wrong with rewarding good service, freely given by an attentive crew. The rewards might be monetary, in goods or words as appropriate.
In this day and age there are a few English words which have been forgotten by some who profess to speak a form English. I will now offer a few examples ….
“Please, thank you, I’m sorry, may I have”.
Are hardly ever used by some. These ignorant types can only converse with others by adding expletives between every other word which they utter. It is plain to see that some who post herein are unaware of how to behave in a civilised manner, shame be upon you. There is little wonder that there is so much uncivilised behaviour emanating from the ignorant.
My take on this will probably go down like a lead balloon …. The gifting passenger was either ….
A: A MAGA moron who wanted to get a superior airline crew into hot water after attempting to import drugs into the U.S.
B: A MAGA moron who became afraid of attempting to import drugs into the U.S. themselves, thus offloading them to the crew.
C: A MAGA moron was checking out the security...
My take on this will probably go down like a lead balloon …. The gifting passenger was either ….
A: A MAGA moron who wanted to get a superior airline crew into hot water after attempting to import drugs into the U.S.
B: A MAGA moron who became afraid of attempting to import drugs into the U.S. themselves, thus offloading them to the crew.
C: A MAGA moron was checking out the security situation stateside without exposing themselves to being caught.
D: A MAGA moron who is a blogging influencer looking for a possible viral video release while onboard or at U.S. Customs.
E: A simple minded passenger, who is so stupid that it did not appreciate the potential danger it was exposing the crew and fellow passengers too.
This is insane incident is not to be laughed at and should be taken very seriously by all, yes?
drugs into the U.S.
B: A MAGA moron who wanted to dispose of the drugs before attempting to enter the U.S.
C: A
So you’re saying you don’t have strong political opinions that influence your perspective on all events, whether or not related to politics?
Look I hate MAGA as much as I hate bathing with leeches, but MAGA, indeed politics right or left, has nothing to do with this story. Tone it down.
Seek professional help. Seriously. Your TDS is off the charts.
It really is interesting to note that the ‘natives’ do not like their kind to be criticised in any way, shape or form …. you poor, poor darlinks. Suck it up like real adults and stop acting like spoiled children when someone makes fun of your kindred spirits …. One does enjoy a good laugh at your expense …. :-)
Huh? I just said that I do not like MAGA. My comment was simply that insulting political comments directed right or left are not relevant to this discussion.
Seriously, you're pathetic. Do you even have any self awareness left? You're introducing trump hatred to a story about a FA creating a fake story about getting drugged to cover for them getting too high for their next flight. That's what happened. And you're a legitimate retard.
I thought it was Haribos. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
5mg for beginners. 30mg if you’ve learned to fly.
Now that’s my kind of party. :D
Yeah, nothing says party like a trip to the ER.
Or a potential aircraft loss with all passengers too ….
Isn't this something like deliberate poisoning? I have no idea why crews would ever want to consume something a stranger gave them. I'd say accept them out of politeness and discreetly bin anything.
Obviously there was no "passenger"... In what world would someone "gift" an unopened bag of gummies to a flight crew, and after getting it onto the plane?
Their story falls apart the second they identified how many MG they had. Not possible without the packaging, so you can get rid of the "original packaging" speculation. If it had actually come from a passenger it only would have been with the shared understanding of what it...
Obviously there was no "passenger"... In what world would someone "gift" an unopened bag of gummies to a flight crew, and after getting it onto the plane?
Their story falls apart the second they identified how many MG they had. Not possible without the packaging, so you can get rid of the "original packaging" speculation. If it had actually come from a passenger it only would have been with the shared understanding of what it was, but again this is obviously a crew went to a dispensary because they were in California (and I'm sure from somewhere it's not legal, which would be another reason why the "passenger" didn't exist), and probably didn't even take too many but at least one of them just had a bad trip. Knowing how much worse things could get if they tried to work through it and got caught they needed to call out, but didn't want to get fired so they invented the story of an innocent bag of candy from a passenger.
Yep, you're exactly right. Occam's razor: the simplest, most obvious answer is usually correct. I bet they didn't file a police report either. Knowing BA, there will be no repercussions for inventing this story either.
@ Zac -- To be clear, this happened on arrival, not on departure. If this happened on the bus before operating a flight, I'd totally agree. But how would they have gotten to a dispensary without even leaving the crew bus?
@Ben
Easy, the part about consuming them on the crew bus is just part of their invented story. The only documented facts are they visited a hospital due to an overdose later on. It's just as easy to get weed as food in CA. Dispensaries are everywhere. You can get it delivered too. Haven't you learned yet not to take single source, unverified accounts of events at face value yet? Where's the mystery passenger? Where's the police report? It's all nonsense.
If you read it was directly from arrival and the crew bus hence how would they get to a dispensary between exiting the Tom Bradley Terminal and curbside on World Way ?
It is almost always Americans giving gifts. I saw one recently online who was giving crew cash, and on Delta too ! What will Tim Dunn say about that. The crew were also accepting it !
The story doesn’t add up… I bet the crew brought it on the flight with them, and only (allegedly) opened and consumed gummies upon landing. Makes sense they didn’t want to take them before/while working the flight…
Dispensaries also deliver here. There are apps and everything.
It wouldn't be a surprise: "British Airways crew ‘lied about robbery to cover up drug and alcohol binge in Rio De Janeiro".
What a pathetic bunch of creeps some people who post excrement are …. third world comments from the land of the mighty orange moron.
Or passenger realised once on the aircraft that they had these things and that bringing them into the USA would be problematic; so would be leaving them on the aircraft; so palmed them off as a gift to the crew.
Yeah I'm with you on this one. I suspect they went to a dispensary or ordered delivery upon arrival to the hotel at LAX. Ate too much(happens frequently to people who don't consume regularly), freaked out and went to hospital. Figured they would get in trouble so they made the story about the gifts up. I find it hard to believe a passenger who was already in London gave them edibles en route to USA.
If you make it too hard to accept gifts things will become stupid.One idiot should not be able to change sensible rules...
Idiot passenger. Bad outcome but it could have been worse in some ways - crew getting dismissed for testing positive for drugs with no explanation. Or accidrntally bringing the “gift” into a country with strict drug laws,