Japan Airlines’ senior management is facing some serious punishment, including pay cuts, over a recent incident involving a drinking pilot. The only problem? This is the second time this year that we’re seeing such a pay cut for exactly the same reason…
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Japan Airlines executives punished over pilot actions
Senior executives at Japan Airlines are going to have their pay docked in the short term, following yet another incident of a pilot having drank too much prior to operating a flight. Specifically, CEO Mitsuko Tottori will have her pay cut by 30% for a period of two months. Furthermore, the company’s safety manager, Yukio Nakagawa, will receive a 20% pay cut for one month, while all other directors will receive a 10% pay cut for one month.
This isn’t the first time that Japan Airlines executives have had their pay docked over pilots drinking inappropriately. Earlier this year, we saw exactly the same punishment over a previous incident. And that wasn’t even the first time this system was used for punishment.
Of course this level of accountability all very much reflects Japanese business culture, and of senior leaders taking responsibility when things go wrong. Optics also matter. It reminds me of how in 2009, when Japan Airlines was losing money, the CEO would take the bus to work, and would have lunch in the employee cafeteria with everyone else.
Japan Airlines’ issue with drinking pilots
Over the years, Japan Airlines has had a series of flight delays and cancellations due to pilots being over the legal limit for alcohol. Nowadays, Japan Airlines pilots aren’t allowed to fly if they’ve had alcohol within 12 hours of a flight, or if they have any alcohol left in their system by the time they get to the airport.
During the most recent incident, a Japan Airlines flight from Honolulu to Tokyo was seriously delayed, after a captain admitted he had too much to drink. Due to the crew swaps between flights, this ended up causing delays to three flights from Honolulu.
It’s one thing if this were the first time that something like that happened, but it was only the latest in a string of incidents involving the airline. This has caused increased government and public scrutiny of the oneworld carrier.
Prior to the latest incident, in December 2024, a Japan Airlines flight from Melbourne to Tokyo was delayed by over three hours, after two pilots were above the alcohol limit. They had both self-administered tests at their hotel a couple of hours before departure, and found they had alcohol in their system. So the flight had to be delayed until the breath test showed no alcohol in their system.
Then before that, in April 2024, a Japan Airlines flight from Dallas to Tokyo was canceled after a pilot was drunk and misbehaving during the layover, to the point that the police had to be called.
Perhaps the worst incident of all was in 2018, when a Japan Airlines flight from London to Tokyo was canceled after a pilot was found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.189. At the time, the maximum blood alcohol level for pilots was 0.02, so he was at nearly 10x that limit.
So, does Japan Airlines specifically have a problem with drinking pilots, or what’s going on? It’s hard to know for sure, though a few thoughts:
- Japan Airlines is hardly alone with having situations where pilots get in trouble for being over the limit to fly
- Japan Airlines has a zero tolerance policy for alcohol nowadays, which is much stricter than in most other countries
- Despite how “proper” many aspects of Japanese culture seem, a lot of Japanese people definitely like to “let loose” when given the chance, and I imagine the career of a pilot provides a lot of tempting opportunities for that
Bottom line
Japan Airlines’ CEO is taking a 30% pay cut for a period of two months, following yet another incident where a pilot was found to be violating the carrier’s alcohol policy. On top of that, other executives had their pay docked as well.
This is now the second time this year that executives are facing this punishment, so I’m not sure this is really working. Then again, given the really strict alcohol limits, there are always going to be some “bad apples,” and I’m not sure this can be blamed squarely on management. When you have a workforce of thousands, can you really control for the actions of every single person?
What do you make of Japan Airlines’ senior managers taking pay cuts over this pilot situation?
Honestly, I’m more concerned about the rest of the industry and how they arrive to work sloshed and continue flying.
The only difference between Japanese and American pilots is that the Japanese pilots get caught due to more frequent testing, not more frequent drinking. I personally know a United pilot who happens to be an active alcoholic. This individual is a captain who regularly flies 787’s to Asia.
I mean yes it's a harsh rule, but if I saw constant company-wide emails every few months after each incident I'd take it a lot more seriously and probably just not drink when abroad. It can't be that hard for people without alcohol dependencies. Maybe JAL should offer better alcohol rehabilitation services or something for the few with addictions
It's curious how this seems to exclusively happen to longhaul flights. I wonder how the incident...
I mean yes it's a harsh rule, but if I saw constant company-wide emails every few months after each incident I'd take it a lot more seriously and probably just not drink when abroad. It can't be that hard for people without alcohol dependencies. Maybe JAL should offer better alcohol rehabilitation services or something for the few with addictions
It's curious how this seems to exclusively happen to longhaul flights. I wonder how the incident rate of these alcohol issues tracks with seniority
Could just be related to the frequency and duration of layovers.
Most airlines try to avoid crew layovers on short haul flights. If there is a layover, crews are likely to get to the hotel late and leave as soon as they had their statutory rest period. There might not be a window of opportunity to have any alcohol without violating the rules.
Meanwhile, on a longer layover at a long haul destination,...
Could just be related to the frequency and duration of layovers.
Most airlines try to avoid crew layovers on short haul flights. If there is a layover, crews are likely to get to the hotel late and leave as soon as they had their statutory rest period. There might not be a window of opportunity to have any alcohol without violating the rules.
Meanwhile, on a longer layover at a long haul destination, there’s more leisure time. After a few drinks, judgment may be impaired, causing crews to drink excessively (or beyond the last point in time they are allowed to drink).
Seems like there’s two very different issues: first, if pilots are actually showing up to work drunk, that’s bad, period.
But separately: pilots who are self-administering tests in the morning that show presumably minuscule concentrations of alcohol, which nevertheless are non-zero, exceeding the strict zero-tolerance policy, and then grounding themselves over it, because of an extremely strict workplace culture. That’s an example of unintended consequences and overly-strict misapplication of a well-intentioned rule. If Japan...
Seems like there’s two very different issues: first, if pilots are actually showing up to work drunk, that’s bad, period.
But separately: pilots who are self-administering tests in the morning that show presumably minuscule concentrations of alcohol, which nevertheless are non-zero, exceeding the strict zero-tolerance policy, and then grounding themselves over it, because of an extremely strict workplace culture. That’s an example of unintended consequences and overly-strict misapplication of a well-intentioned rule. If Japan Airlines wants their pilots to never drink alcohol, ever, they could make that rule. But it would either drive pilots away entirely, or worse, drive the drinking underground or even into the cockpit. That’s why rules exist at other airlines, allowing pilots to drink in their free time, just not within 8 hours of a flight or with a BAC of over 0.02, for example.
But if an organization imposes a rule that theoretically allows a behavior, but effectively makes it very easy to “fail”, by adopting “zero tolerance” metrics like 12+ hour exclusions or 0.000% BAC limits… of course that’s going to cause disruption.