Fake Pilots Puts American Airlines’ Magazine on the Rocks

Magazine carrier apologizes for photo spread featuring bartenders dressed as pilots.

A pair of bartenders dressed like airline pilots featured in American Airlines’ in-flight magazine has caused a stir among pilots, leading the carrier to issue an apology for a controversial photo spread. The Dallas Morning News reports that the airline is backtracking from a food feature covering a mobile bartending company operating out of aircraft service trolleys.

The photo spread appeared in the March edition of American Way Magazine, read by 16 million passengers according to the magazine website. The article, about unique food offerings available in Sydney, Australia, featured Byron Woolfrey and Christopher Thomas, the founders of Trolley’d mixing drinks while dressed like pilots. The startup operates a mobile bartending service, serving libations out of service carts belonging to the former Ansett Australia.

While the photo was meant as a play on their unique service, the spread was immediately panned by employees of the airline. Because of the false connotation that pilots may fly while inebriated, or that impaired aviators can cause accidents, the president of the Allied Pilots Association said that the photo “reflects extremely poor judgement” from the air carrier. In an internal bulletin to union members titled “Not an April Fools’ Day Joke and Not the American Way,” the APA noted they were aware of the photo, while denouncing the spread.

In a statement to unionized members, the airline apologized for the spread. While they noted that the magazine has been outsourced for the past three years, executives agreed internal checks should have caught the spread before it went to the public.

“We know that a photo depicting pilots drinking in uniform is not appropriate,” Ron DeFeo, vice president of global communications at American, told employees, according to the Dallas Morning News. “Even in jest, if that’s what this is, our aviators put safety first and this is never an area where humor works.”

The gaffe is the latest shot in an ongoing dispute between pilots and the carrier. In March 2017, the union accused the airline of abandoning passengers at the gate as a move to retain their on-time departure rate.

[Photo: Shutterstock]