Free steven slater

Now who in life hasn't fantasized about quitting a crappy, low paying job and doing it in a spectacular and memorable way!

FA Steven Slater of Jet Blue had apparently had enough yesterday. As his flight was taxing up to the gate, a PAX took off his seat belt while the seat belt sign was on and before the plane reached the jet way, got out of his seat and provided to remove his carry on luggage from the overhead bin. FA Slater asked the PAX to sit back down until they had reached the gate for his safety. The PAX declined and told the FA off. Slater approached the PAX and while the PAX was struggling to remove his carry on bag, it hit Mr. Slater on the head. The FA then asked for an apology when none was forthcoming. The PAX called him a MF and a few other choice words ensued. The FA then went to the hand mike and on the PA said: "And to the PAX who just called me a MF, F you!!" lol

Mr. Slater then grabbed his own flight bag, stopped off in the galley to grab a couple of cold brewskies off the beverage cart, walked to the service door, blew the door, activated the emergency evac slide threw his bags down the slide, then slid down the slid himself and ran across the tarmac to the terminal. (wish there had been a video of that!) In the terminal he caught the tram to a parking lot to retrieve his car and was seen flinging his uniform tie down on the ground and yelling: "I quit!!" He then drove home. Police later showed up at his home in Queens that he shares with his boyfriend and apparently they were in bed together.

Now this is a helluva way to leave a job! Tell people exactly what you think of their rude behavior and treatment of you, refuse to be treated like crap any longer, grab a couple of cold ones, take the fastest exit out of the situation, drive home and have angry sex with your boyfriend. lol Yee Haw Steven!

Don't know what kinda beers he took with him, but this scenario would make a great commercial!

On a serious note, neighbors and friends have been forthcoming in saying that Steven is under a lot of stress. His Father who he took care of, died recently and his Mother who he has also been looking after has terminal lung cancer. I guess he just finally snapped.

The positive thing is that he had sense enough to check out the window (I am guessing) before deploying the slide to make sure no ramp workers were beneath. The bad thing is the cost to Jet Blue to either re-pack the slide or replace it if necessary and have it inspected and certified, so the jet was certainly down for a day.

He has also garnered more than 20,000 new fans on his Facebook site and other Facebook sites have started about him and a collection is being taken up for his bail. I would have liked to have seen the PAX charged with interfering with a Flight Crew member which is a Ferderal crime. Apparently, the PAX will go scott free which seems wrong to me.

In the end, I have a feeling Steven will become a real live hero to many and an urban legend. I can see it now the next time someone loses it on the job......he just pulled a Slater!!

I dig the whole "Howard Beale" vibe of the thing and empathize with the circumstances that led up to it. That and I hope the fact that Mr.Slater's rather notable flame out was relatively without victim will be factored in his favor when he faces a judge. I also hope he's creative in monetizing his new found fame because I rather suspect he'll need a new career from here on out.

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Originally Posted by GlimDropper

I dig the whole "Howard Beale" vibe of the thing and empathize with the circumstances that led up to it. That and I hope the fact that Mr.Slater's rather notable flame out was relatively without victim will be factored in his favor when he faces a judge. I also hope he's creative in monetizing his new found fame because I rather suspect he'll need a new career from here on out.

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I can just picture him going down the slide, a beer in one hand and shaking his fist in the air with the other and doing the "I am Mad As Hell" thing. ROTFL!

It really was victimless and pretty damn funny. Makes me thing of the old song Take This Job and Shove It. lol You cannot imagine any Flight or Cabin Crew that hasn't secretly wanted to do something like this or worse several times in their career. They put up with the worst of humanity at 38,000 feet. It just isn't to be comprehended some days, the stunts that PAX pull while in flight, let alone on the ground.

I have looked on three Pilot forums that I belong to and on two Cabin Crew forums and he has the complete support of 99.9% of all the crews. Crews around the country are just chanting "Hell yeah! Go Steven!!" His career in aviation is over but I bet he gets more opportunities out of this than imaginable right now. At least I hope so. That and I hope his boyfriend has a decent job currently at least. I forgot to mention that his Mom is a retired FA and his Dad was a Pilot, btw. I hope the judge will be reasonable with this case.

We had a Captain once that right before taxi from the gate, who just decided he had had it and simply picked up his flight bag and case and walked out the door and right up the jet way and drove home. It happens. The public at large is mostly clueless as to what crews have had to contend with from their employers and the PAX on a daily basis for just decades, let alone the fatigue, stress and the job itself. It wears on you mightily believe me.

BTW, glad to see you back.

PAX don't seem to get that all FAs are not there to "serve the public". Their primary responsibility is to "keep the public safe".


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_t6rV3U9ZEH...evenSlater.jpg

8 Moving Internet Tributes to Steven Slater

Steven Slater - Online Tributes | Geekosystem

The FAA finally makes a move. Apparently as more details are coming out, the pax, a woman, bashed Steven on the head with her bag at the beginning of the flight at PIT. It actualy made a bleeding gash on his head. They had the first altercation then. Upon landing at JFK she disobeyed the seatbelt light and instructions form him and caused another problem, hence another altercation.

New York Post: Angry passenger could face up to $25,000 in fines

"The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is looking for the passenger who allegedly triggered flight attendant Steven Slater's infamous escape from the plane via emergency slide.

The passenger is accused of several airline infractions. Before the plane took off from Pittsburgh, one of her two large suitcases allegedly fell from the overhead bin she was trying to cram it in and struck Slater on the head; Slater's lawyer says his client was trying to get her to check the larger of the two bags, reports the New York Post.

The mystery woman could be charged with breaking federal regulations, which state: "No person may assault, threaten, intimidate or interfere with a crew member in the performance of a crew member's duties aboard an aircraft."

Upon landing at JFK, the passenger got up while the plane was still taxiing and went to get her smaller bag from the overhead compartment. Slater told her to return to her seat, as the pilot had not yet given permission for people to unbuckle their seatbelts, and the woman allegedly told Slater to "f--- off."

And the rest is history.

Unbuckling her seat belt and walking while the plane is taxiing constitute two separate fines of $1,100, FAA spokesman Jim Peters told the Post.

FAA investigators have flown Slater's fellow flight attendants back to New York for questioning and are also tracking down passengers in rows 6 through 9 on the plane in an attempt to locate the passenger in question."

This will get interesting.

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Sometimes the weird news is about us…

It wouldn’t be fair for us to point out absurdities in other corners of the industry without acknowledging when it’s about us. Well, this week’s news certainly falls into that category. Perhaps you heard a little story about one of our flight attendants? While we can’t discuss the details of what is an ongoing investigation, plenty of others have already formed opinions on the matter. Like, the entire Internet. (The reason we’re not commenting is that we respect the privacy of the individual. People can speak on their own behalf; we won’t do it for them.)

While this episode may feed your inner Office Space, we just want to take this space to recognize our 2,300 fantastic, awesome and professional Inflight Crewmembers for delivering the JetBlue Experience you’ve come to expect of us.

You can’t make this shtick up.

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(bolding mine)

BlueTales » JetBlue » Sometimes the weird news is about us…

Interesting responses on the blog. The vast majority in support of Steven. I wonder about the validity of this one: "Is it true that JetBlue denied the flight attendent’s request for a temporary compassionate domicle relocation to LGB to care for his dying mother?" Anyone can post there (inlcuding employees who would I imagine post anon) and maybe an another FA knows something and made that comment.

This was also interesting:

"JetBlue appears to be modifying its initial blog post, without showing the common courtesy of striking through the changes. Two examples:

The original said “we just want to take this space to recognize our 2,100 fantastic, awesome and professional in-flight crewmembers” as quoted in several news sources (JFK Security, JetBlue Under Scrutiny After Slater’s Outburst « CBS New York- News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and the Best of NY= is one example)

The original said “While we can’t discuss the details of what is an ongoing investigation, plenty of others have already formed opinions on the matter. Like, the entire Internet.” The paragraph stopped there, but now JetBlue’s added spin in the form of a parenthetical ( ) that attempts to give JetBlue a more “human” and moralistic side while it’s pursuing legal action against Slater.

Shame on JetBlue for breaking one of the basic rules of blogging to make itself look better!"

I found this comment of note as well:

"I must say I am angry to hear that all passengers got $100 vouchers. These are the same passengers who stood by and did nothing? Shame on all of you!!! I am also upset that you are not going after the passenger who started this fiasco. Is the well being of you’re crew not important? Are you giving free reign to others that this behavior is acceptable. Jet blue stand by you’re employees. I heard the passenger that did this was already banned from another airline for abusive behavior towards the crew and she works for congress? Is this true? We all are waiting and watching to see that you do the right thing and prosecute this passenger to the fullest the law allows. Do not turn you’re back on you’re crew members who are working 6 days straight to make sure the flights go out."