A video of flight attendant which showed her slumped in her seat on a plane emerged online.
The passengers believed that the woman was drunk and she faced charges for the same.
Julianne March, 49 was on a United Express flight traveling from Chicago to South Bend, Indiana, and she was supposedly intoxicated. When the plane landed in South Bend, officers boarded, Julianne started crying as she thought she was still in Chicago.
The flight was operated by Air Wisconsin which means it was an Air Wisconsin crew and flight attendant. An Air Wisconsin spokesperson said, “The Flight Attendant involved in this incident is no longer an employee of the company. We will continue to cooperate with local authorities and assist them as necessary.”
One passenger told ABC: “The whole plane a very small plane noticed something was wrong when a passenger tried to contact her on the phone just before takeoff and she was in her jump seat, not strapped in, and the phone rang multiple times without her answering, which to me was the most concerning part because the pilot wasn’t able to communicate with the lone flight attendant and took off anyway.”
Aaron Scherb said: “The flight attendant didn’t get up for the whole flight,”
“She didn’t do a security announcement or secure the cabin. When we landed, she appeared to need help opening the jet bridge.”
“Two uniformed officers were waiting at the end of the jet bridge to interview and escort the flight attendant off the flight,”
“Given that the safety and well-being of all 50 passengers on that flight was jeopardized, I find United’s response to be insufficient,”
“Especially since United had just given a $1200 voucher to a would-be passenger on the flight as we were about to board because the flight was oversold.”
At the same time, Sherb said, “I hope this flight attendant is not fired. I would hope that United Airlines and Air Wisconsin treat this person as an employee, not as an expendable commodity and that they will help her get treatment for addiction if that’s in fact what she suffers from.
Given the significant safety and security roles that flight attendants have, United and other airlines should consider adopting zero-tolerance policies for flight attendants going forward.”