Flight Attendant Threatens to Poison Pilots’ Meals
Jeff Edwards July 22, 2019
U.S. regulators have formally asked Taiwanese officials to provide more information about published reports that an Eva Air cabin crew member threatened to tamper with pilots’ food in retaliation for not supporting a contentious and long-running flight attendant strike which finally ended this week after nearly a month.
The labor troubles between Eva Air and its flight attendants turned downright ugly this summer during what became the longest walkout in the history of the aviation industry in Taiwan. The strike was resolved this month, but lingering animosity is still creating issues for both the airline and its employees.
Some flight attendants have claimed that even after a deal was reached between the Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union (TFAU) and the company, union officials refused to return the travel documents of some rank-and-file cabin crew members who relinquished their passports as a show of solidarity. Now, the airline says it has reported a flight attendant to police after she allegedly threatened, in chatroom posts, to adulterate the inflight meal of a pilot (who did not support the labor action) with “extras.”
Although the crew member in question has released a statement saying her remarks were intended as a joke, the Taipei Times reports that the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has taken the threat seriously. The U.S. Department of Transportation has since reached out to Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), officially requesting more information about the investigation. The agency says that while the threatening post was initially investigated as a criminal matter, CAA officials could still sanction the flight attendant for violating Taiwan’s aviation safety code, even if she is not charged criminally.
The airline says that in addition to referring the matter to the police, it is pursuing a course to terminate the flight attendant. According to the airline, the carrier’s personnel evaluation committee voted unanimously to dismiss Kuo Chih-yen, noting that her actions could have directly impacted the safe operation of commercial flights.
Eva Air flight attendants have recently returned to work after a walkout that dragged on for a record three weeks. According to the union, the labor action disrupted more than 2,000 flights and may have delayed as many as a half-million air travelers.
[Featured Image: Shutterstock]
Reminds me of my first wife, a flight attendant for what was then Aeromexico, she proudly told me on occasions that she would put nose drops into the coffee of pilots, who came too close (or, at least, in her narcissistic mind) so that they would get a diarrhea. What a fine character she was.