National
Drunk flight attendant busted after passing out for the entire flight
A boozed-up flight attendant was busted in Indiana after passengers saw her stumbling all over the cabin — and then passing out in her seat for the entire flight, according to new reports.
Julianne March, 49, of Waukesha, Wis., was charged Thursday with misdemeanor public intoxication. She was arrested Aug. 2 after being removed from the plane when it landed in South Bend. She was released the next day and has an initial hearing scheduled for Aug. 29. The sentencing range for the charge is up to 180 days.
When the plane landed in South Bend, officers boarded, March started crying and, when asked which city she was in, said Chicago, the criminal complaint said.
And when administered a Breathalyzer test, her level was 0.204, five times over the legal limit for flight attendants, the complaint said. The Federal Aviation Administration said the limit for all aviation sensitive positions — pilot, flight attendant, mechanic, for example — is .04 for alcohol.
One passenger wrote a tweet addressed to United Airlines during the flight to complain about March’s condition.
“Our flight attendant appears to be quite drunk,” Aaron Scherb tweeted. “She is slurring her speech (she couldn’t make it through the security announcement), couldn’t walk straight/was bumping into everyone in the aisle, and kept dropping things.”
March fell asleep in the jump seat after takeoff, and passengers even had to fasten her seat belt, Scherb told a local outlet.
Another passenger, who only gave his name as Dan, told ABC News that even the pilot wasn’t able to get in touch with March. He said the “whole plane … noticed something was wrong” and that the attendant’s phone rang “multiple times without her answering” it.
“[That] to me was the most concerning part because the pilot wasn’t able to communicate with the lone flight attendant and took off anyway,” he said.
Air Wisconsin did not respond to a request for comment.
When asked about the incident by The Tribune earlier this week, a spokesperson for United Airlines said the request was forwarded to Air Wisconsin, which responded that, “The flight attendant was detained by authorities after a report of possible impairment. We are investigating the situation and fully cooperating with the local authorities.”
