WTF: Flight Attendant Performs Citizen’s Arrest On Colleague Over Snack Box

PYOK flags a Reddit post by a flight attendant at a major US airline, which has since been deleted, presumably due to how overwhelmingly negative the responses from other flight attendants were.

Let me emphasize that this is of course an anonymous flight attendant, so I can’t personally confirm the accuracy of the story. However, I have a hard time imagining how one would even think to make something like this up. Furthermore, (unfortunately) the flight attendant seems genuinely confused as to how she has been punished for this.

Flight attendant suspended over shocking behavior

A flight attendant at a major US airline claims to have been suspended, after being accused of assault and unlawful detention, for conducting a citizen’s arrest on a colleague who she suspected stole a snack box from the buy on board selection. You read that right.

The flight attendant claims she was working a three day trip, with “very difficult” colleagues, pointing out that her colleagues used to work for regional and ultra low cost carriers (which… is an interesting detail to provide). This flight attendant seems to be a bit of a control freak:

“I always fly lead, but I like to keep on top of everything that is happening in my cabin, so I went to the aft galley and inspected the carts and made sure everything was packed up and completed according to company policy. Thankfully, it was, which saved me needing to file an incident report, and I counted there were four snack boxes remaining.”

Despite everything looking okay, the flight attendant remembered how a colleague had mentioned that she didn’t pack enough food for her layover, and was hungry. For that reason, the lead flight attendant suspected that she might try to steal a snack box:

“So to ensure the security of company property, on the descent, I went to double-check the carts and found there were only three snack boxes left. I did not raise it with the crew member but immediately rang the Captain and requested a supervisor meet us at the gate. By the time all pax had disembarked, the supervisor had still not arrived, so I told the crew they were unable to leave and they were not under any circumstances to touch or move their baggage.”

The other flight attendant then reportedly grabbed her bag and tried to get off the plane. So the lead flight attendant took her colleague’s bag off her, and blocked the main cabin door with a service cart, so that no one could get off the plane, admitting:

“In the process of securing the evidence, I accidentally knocked the regional girl with her bag and made her stumble.”

Regional “girl?” I’m getting a very clear picture of what this flight attendant might be like. Based on the airline classism and speaking down to her colleague, I’m almost surprised that race isn’t brought up.

When a supervisor did finally arrive, no missing snack boxes or other service items were found. Several days later, the flight attendant got a call from the airline, informing her she was being suspended for assault, bullying, and unlawful detention.

On Reddit, the flight attendant asks other flight attendants for any tips in dealing with this situation, because she was just trying to look out for the company.

This behavior crosses the line and then some

In a way, I respect the passion that this lead flight attendant reportedly has in looking out for her company. She treats her company’s belongings as if they’re her own. But OMG, talk about taking things way, way too far.

First of all, keep in mind that at US airlines, lead flight attendants aren’t actually managers, like you’d find at some other foreign airlines, where they do performance evaluations of colleagues, have the ability to discipline, etc. Instead, they’re just paid a little extra to do paperwork, make announcements, and things along those lines.

Second of all, the level of micromanaging here just seems wild. This flight attendant has so much extra time that she can repeatedly go to the rear galley and count the number of snack boxes, based on hearing her colleague say that she might be hungry and forgot to pack food?

Lastly, how bad is this flight attendant’s judgment when it comes to escalating situations? If she really thought this was a huge issue, she could’ve filed a reported, and left it at that. But to physically block a flight attendant from exiting the plane based on a suspicion of them taking a $10 snack box? I can’t even…

Perhaps the craziest part of this story is that this is the flight attendant’s own version of events. Like, if someone told this story from the perspective of the other flight attendant, most of us would probably say “there must be more to the story.” But this is the flight attendant’s own version of events, and she doesn’t see what’s wrong with her actions?!

Bottom line

A flight attendant shared a wild story on Reddit, about how she was reportedly suspended after performing a citizen’s arrest on a flight attendant, when she suspected that she had stolen a snack box. This is perhaps the least self aware story that I’ve ever read from a flight attendant…

What do you make of this wild flight attendant story?