Last week, a Japan Airlines flight from Dallas to Tokyo was canceled due to an incident involving the captain, who became intoxicated at a hotel bar and had an encounter with the police.
Following this incident, the 157 passengers scheduled for this flight were later transferred to an American Airlines flight.
According to reports, the 49-year-old captain, whose identity remains undisclosed, began drinking while dining with fellow crew members at a restaurant after completing his flight from Tokyo’s Haneda airport on Monday.
He continued drinking in a hotel lounge and later in his room, despite being warned by staff about disruptive behavior.
At around 2 am on Tuesday, hotel staff contacted the police due to noise and disturbances caused by the pilot, affecting other guests.
Although the pilot did not breach Japan Airlines’ guidelines prohibiting drinking within 12 hours of a flight, he was deemed unfit to fly as a precautionary measure.
The airline decided to cancel the flight in order to assess the captain’s physical and mental condition and to arrange for a replacement pilot, as reported by Japan Times.
Japan Airlines subsequently issued an apology to passengers for the inconvenience caused by the pilot’s “inappropriate behavior.”
This incident comes after a Delta Airlines pilot, Lawrence Russell Jr, 63, was sentenced to 10 months in prison in March for reporting drunk to duty at Scotland’s Edinburgh airport on June 16, 2023.
Authorities discovered that his blood alcohol level exceeded the legal limit during a test, and he was found with two bottles of Jägermeister liqueur in his bag.
