We understand Steven Slater, the JetBlue flight attendant who grew so fed up with a passenger he grabbed a beer from the beverage cart and escaped via the plane’s emergency shoot, is a member of the tribe. (He was in bed with his boyfriend when the cops stopped by, after all.) Mr. Slater has since been arrested on felony counts for fleeing from JetBlue Flight 1052 while it taxied to the terminal, and that’s called “criminal mischief.” So long as nobody was hurt, and it appears that’s the case, Queerty salutes this man, because passengers are a-holes, and we love our gay JetBlue flight attendants..
Ogre Magi
Steven Slater: You are an hero!
Eminent Victorian
I salute Mr. Slater as well! In a way, he acted on behalf of every flight attendant, retail staffer, restaurant worker, and other service people who have had to deal with the depressingly rapid rise in consumer rudeness in a way that, frankly, both had to happen and could have been so much worse. I heard little cheers for this guy all over the place today. And really, why isn’t the face of the jerkoff passenger plastered all over the place, too? Why hasn’t he been charged with something, too?
Kevin B
I didn’t know Michael Kors had a son.
In any case, BRAVO! Best getaway of the year!
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
@Kevin B: ~LOL~ Michael Kors son…
Picture Miss Thing giving irate passenger a verbal bitch slap, grabbing her can of beer and then playing an real life version of chutes and ladders sliding down beer in hand………..*priceless*
Jeffree
Best part of the story? Snagging a beer before hitting the emergency chute! I personally would have absconded with some of those delicious pita chips, but I’m greedy that way !
@Kevin B. Total Cosign–he really does like Michael Kors! His face is less dewy than MK’s however!
@Sarah N. You did good. Please stay atop of the story if there are future developments.
Jeffree
@PlaysWell : our posts crossed: I’m slow at typing & still working on my spelling !
Idea for a reality show: Runaway Flight Attendents. No way is he the only one. I once supposedly dated a KLM steward, but there is no photographic evidence to prove that.
Dame Helga von Ornstein
As poorly paid as airline employees are I am not surprised one finally went ballistic. I have to also add, sadly, his actions said he has no business in a position like that.
I remember back in the 1990’s trying for an airline steward position at United and American Airlines. Both, looking back, did me the biggest favor in the world by saying no, we don’t think you are what we are looking for. I didn’t say anything at the time but when the United Airlines interview had reached the half way point I began asking myself what the hell was I thinking about to even consider a job like this. By now I would have been arrested at least twenty times for smacking the shit out of a passenger with one of those metallic trays. All that b/s and NON-PAID training on top of it too. I think not. I even tried calling that smart mouth assed queen who conducted the interview for American Airlines in Dallas to congratulate her for her foresight
but for some reason she was no longer with the company.
This queen did herself a favor. If he cared even less about blowing a chute on the ground and has admitted to an alcohol problem on his Facebook page I have no doubt he would have done it over the ocean.
Good-bye dear. Next working slave please step up to the plate.
peteNsfo
This guy needs a handler… ASAP!
He needs to be on The View, Letterman, all those insipid morning chat shows (it’ll be a nice break from relatives of dead people & what new thing we need to be afraid of)
I LOVE him SOoo much, I hope he doesn’t disappoint. Can’t wait to know who the self-important passenger was as well.
Didn’t Ivana bitch-slap some peon?! I LOVE her too!
Steven
Flying today has become a dehumanizing affair. While airlines are flush with
profits, passengers are stuck in cramped quarters being nickel and dimed for
every possible “amenity.” The planes are dirty, the crew and passengers are
treated like garbage. Everybody has their airline hate story. Congress needs
to be responsive to the needs of Americans more and the needs of big
business to exploit profits less.
Jeffree
Other news reports are saying he grabbed TWO beers before the chute escape, and when Police came to arrest him he was at home having s€x with his boyfriend!
This really needs to be made into a movie.
Ideas please: Which actor should play Steven?
scallywag
Which makes us wonder- what set Steven Slater off? Really Steven, what pissed you off that much? Did them wenches not make enough eye contact with you, was it a bumpy flight, that some idiot refused to say sorry to you thus shocking your moral superiority, was it that time of month or was it simply something you’ve been waiting to do all these years…?
http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2010/08/why-did-jet-blues-steven-slater-flip-out/
CHEEKIEY
My New Hero !!!!
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
@Jeffree: Runaway Take Flight Attendants!……..Love it……….
And there must be some truth to the rumor started here in Queertyland that he is the long lost son (how that occured is a whole ‘nother thread :-p) of Michael Kors, He was on the JetBlue Uniform Redesign Committee…..
hephaestion
I’m glad for Steven that he got out of the airline industry. It’s insane, and too many passengers are totally nuts.
Good luck, Steven, in the more sane world away from airplanes!
Cam
To the people asking what set him off, I think it was that the passenger wouldn’t listen, wouldn’t sit, called him an M F’er and then either accidentally or on purpose hit him in the head with his luggage as he was pulling it out.
With the freaky new airline and homeland security laws, the guy should have just told the airport that the guy was creating a disturbance and had him questioned in a room for 3 hours by air marshalls.
Bob
We are only hearing one side of this story. He claims that the passenger was rude and cursed at him, but how often have I heard flight attendants (particularly women) being complete bitches to passengers. Many are rude and forget that they are there to service customer’s needs. I have found that male flight attendants are nicer, maybe because so many are members of the gay community.
harman/kardon
Imagine if this guy was black. Would you still support him? Probably not, because you would only see his blackness. Ironically, that’s what the straight news blogs are doing. Ripping him apart as some crazy fool. Why, they can only see that he’s gay.
Who jumps out of a plane that’s still in motion? A foolish gay man. It’s so sad that he is your hero. You guys have got to do better. But, you won’t.
Koch
good action
tarxien
I understand the passenger involved was taking luggage out of the locker while the flight was landing. Slater was just doing his job, trying to protect other passengers. He was abused and hit on the head by the luggage for his troubles.
What happened to the passenger? I hope he has been arrested, charged with endangering other passengers and banned from flying for a long time.
pete
Has anyone ever been on a flight where someone doesn’t have to get something out of the overhead bin while the plane is racing down the runway taking off, or has to jump up the moment the plane touches the ground, believing they’re going to be the first person off the plane??!! It has got to be frustrating to be a flight attendant. But this guy really went off his nut. He needs help. I cannot fathom how he is a hero to some people.
Samwise
I can’t even begin to tell you how many days I wish I could do exactly what that guy did.
Unfortunately, my place of work does not have an inflatable slide.
Julie K.
Just surprised that so many sources make sure to make clear that he was gay. I’m wondering if next time we’re going to see “Straight Flight Attendant Jumped Pogo Around Plane”.
Plus I’d like to know whether Steve could sue the silly passenger who was rude to him in the first place.
mikepa
Wait isn’t that David from Little Britain – “I’m the only gay in Jet Blue” 🙂
DR
@pete:
Exactly, Pete. I don’t want to excuse the behavior of the passenger, which was totally out of line, but the idea that this guy is a hero for going ballistic and costing the company something along the lines of $40K for this little attention-grabbing stunt seems seriously misguided. He clearly needs help.
Joe
I think the reason people all over are so supportive of Slater (and no, its not because he is gay, since on other news websites, he is getting the same support) is because we have all grown tired of people in public acting as if they have a sense of entitlement. We have all run into rude people on airlines, in restaurants, at the movie theaters, etc who act as if the rules do not apply to them. And it seems like this passanger was being a total douchebag. While Slater’s actions may not have been the ones I would have done were I in his position, people all over are giving him a big “You go girl!”
And so am I!!!
Bubba
I’ll take this guy and his action ANY time over losers like Reichen and Lance Bass and their fabulis friends or crappy shows like “Glee.” This needs to be made into a movie now! Or at least a TV show. And yeah, we want to see the idiot passenger who caused all this!
bradyboy
By triggering the slide he put the plane out of commission for probably 12 hours and inconvenienced HUNDREDS of passengers. I’m fine with the intercom thing, but he was selfish to take the chute.
Samwise
THE BALLAD OF STEVEN SLATER
Written by Metafilter member “Astro Zombie”
Ain’t we all had a day
When we just had enough
Ain’t it true each one of us
Has been battered, worn, and rough
Ain’t you never felt irate
And won’tcha get irater
Well, my friends, we have a hero now
I speak of Steven Slater
It ain’t that easy to ride the skies
Laboring for JetBlue
A man’s got to keep widened eyes
For terrorists or shampoo
And worser still are the passengers
They turn a kind man to a hater
Won’t nobody stand up to this?
One man: Steven Slater
There was a particular day
And a particular customer
Who grew abusive to Steven
when he instructed her
She was endangering herself
And he didn’t care to debate her
And all at once she struck his head
She struck at Steven Slater
Some will say he made a scene
Or it was a crime
But Steven he had had enough
And if he has to, he’ll do time
Perhaps it’s great to keep your cool
But sometimes it is greater
To bid one final fuck you too
As did Steven Slater
He cursed her on the intercom
So that everyone could hear
And he then bid his adieu
And he grabbed himself a beer
And threw open the JetBlue door
With an escape slide and its inflater
And he slid down, drinking, shouting fuck you
Our hero, Steven Slater
The police they went after him
They caught him in his bed
He was supposed to finish work but he was
In flagrante delicto instead
A hero and a lover now, not a
Circumnavigater
Say what you will, but tip your hat
To a man who had enough
A man named Steven Slater.
Jaroslaw
Maybe calling him a “hero” is a tiny bit too much, but I can certainly agree that anyone in the service industry can completely emphathize.
The worst part is this crap of charging him with reckless endangerment. The plane was on the ground standing still. I would really like to know how he endangered anyone.
And yeah, I’m still waiting for the headline to be “Straight airline attendant throws passenger out window” or similar. His Gayness is not relevant to the story.
Jaroslaw
And another thing, let me deliberately bonk the judge hearing this case in the head with my suitcase and see how rational he is. Those guys go off over nothing far to frequently.
B
No. 29 · Jaroslaw wrote, “The worst part is this crap of charging him with reckless endangerment. The plane was on the ground standing still. I would really like to know how he endangered anyone.”
The risk would be to baggage handlers and others on the ground servicing the plane – if the slide hit them while it was being deployed. The news sources claim that Slater looked before deploying it (the standard procedure). It’s not clear if looking is completely adequate for safety as there could be approaching vehicles. The articles claimed that this stunt cost the airline about $25,000.
I can see firing him (mostly due to the $25,000), but the criminal charges seem overblown – a business is pissed so the state is going after him.
Jaroslaw
B – thanks for the analysis – it is a possibility I didn’t think of, still a charge of reckless endangerment may be excessive – we won’t know until it goes to court, I guess. I’m just thinking about things that the police or courts won’t touch until REAL (Major) damages are actually done, I wonder why it is different in this case.
Jaroslaw
B – from the Wall St. Journal:
Steve Stampley, a JetBlue Airways spokesman, declined to comment on the alleged reporting delay.
“At this time, we are working with the FAA and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to investigate this incident. At no time was the security or safety of our customers or crew members at risk,” he said.
Last sentence would make reckless endangerment hard to prove, wouldn’t it?
Thom Freeheart
I hope some studio pays him big money to use his story as a set-up for a movie.
Anybody who has ever worked in the service industry knows how shitty some people can be. Go Steven.
Weee
“Steve Blue a Slide, then his boyfriend.” What a great tshirt slogan.
We love this guy.
Brian
I find it deplorable that the New York Post would publicly disclose an individuals HIV status in a story unrelated to a sexual offense. This is VERY disturbing and violates the law in several states; apparently not New York.
For the disturbing disclosure by the New York Post see: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/angry_jetblue_flight_attendant_arraigned_Es3wzUTzU4vA6dr54QXinM
tylertime
I’m not a lawyer Brian, but it says in the article that Steven disclosed his HIV status to the police. I believe it means that it is now public record so the media is allowed to report the story.
Talarico
@scallywag: Cunt.
MrEguy
[b]What is going to happen to the woman passenger[/b] who allegedly caused him to be hit with the luggage and then called him a “goddamn mother-fucking faggot”?! Assaulting a flight attendant on an aircraft in the USA is a federal offense. Why aren’t they prosecuting this passenger? I haven’t heard a mention of this anywhere.
JPF FRANCE
oui tu a raison
il y a beaucoup de passagers ignoble et méchant
et bettes;
amicalement jean-pierre (France)
Jaroslaw
#36 Brian – did they change the link? I clicked on it – there is nothing about his HIV status.
#39 Mr. EGUY- yes the passenger who hit him on the head should be charged too.
Brian
Jaroslaw : I had posted the same comment on the NY Post website because I found it extremely disturbing that they would publicly disclose HIV status in an article it didn’t have any relevance; apparently they decided to remove that tidbit from the article which makes me happy. I know here in the State of Illinois, it is illegal for a third party to disclose someone’s HIV status to anyone.
Jeffree
Steven”Take this Job & Shove it” Slater is truly becoming a folk hero.
@Julia K: In the mainstream press I’ve seen, the references to him being a gay man or HIV+ have been very few & far between.
@JPF France: t’es pas français! Ça se voit: trop de fautes. Some corrections “tu AS raison” “méchantS” “ignobleS” et “bêtes”
Bien à toi, quand même. I’m not French either.
—- —–
This guy is comedy gold. I sold three small pieces about him within 24 hours. The sad thing is that because that stuff goes thru a broker, I never know where it ends up.