BA cabin crew threaten to poison pilots

[Hand Solo]

Firstly the pilots did have the same agreements but gave them up for a pay restructure which most did very nicely out of or indeed one day will ( and I take the point a very small % lost out ) A large no. of pilots resent the cabin crew working practises as they feel there union sold them down the river

Sorry but going to have to take issue with that point, coming as it does direct from BASSA HQ with barely a glancing blow at the truth! The pilots had a meal allowance system which they exchanged for an hourly rate. They did not give up any working agreements in any substantive form, and we never had an agreement which benefited us to sit around being unproductive. The only thing that changed was an overtime payment for delays at the end of duty which were rarely triggered anyway. The pilots do not resent the cabin crew working practices because they feel their union sold them down the river, they resent them because whilst other areas of the company are feeling the pinch the cabin crew are still woefully inefficent by any measure. BASSA would have you believe we're working harder thanks to the hourly rate and thats why we say you are inefficient - its hardly surprising given that they fought so hard to oppose it. We we're working harder than you before the hourly rate, we're working harder than you since the hourly rate, it's got nothing to do with that.

[flyblue]

Albert Driver,

I can't confirm the "dozen", but I can confirm one other instance. It was specific against me. It was written. I reported it through the "proper channels" i.e. to the CAA, to BA Security, to fleet management, but not to the police or (although sorely tempted) the Pres

You mean that you have been tested for poisoning and you had a positive result?

[Albert Driver]

Flyblue

It's best to read the title of the thread before posting.

[peanutgallery]

Eye drops are seriously dangerous and do not act as described in this thread. Please see here for more info...
http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/visine.asp

Swallowing this substance can result in a number of nasty effects, including:

• Lowering body temperature to dangerous levels
• Making breathing difficult, or even halting it entirely
• Blurring vision
• Causing nausea and vomiting
• Elevating and then dropping blood pressure
• Causing seizures or tremors
• Sending the ingester into a coma

[flyblue]

Albert Driver,

I am asking if you, or anyone, has proof of this (poisoning) really happening.

[Rainboe]

Flyblue, it is a bit difficult to present a 'sample' to anyone and have the appropriate testing carried out! But when you are told many times it takes place, and you can remember times you have suffered inflight 'digestive troubles', you can put two and two together. I appreciate you are astonished and outraged, that is how I felt when gently teasing out of some cabin crew what goes on. The stories made me feel sick. It is not just eye drops- one would feel lucky if it was just that! I have heard of other 'fluids' being used, by the alleged perpetrators themselves, though always well after the event. It is not something someone can understand from another company where normal people seem to work, there is an inherrent poisonous culture afoot in this large airline, and the managerial levels are either desperate to ignore it to prevent further ramifications, or totally apathetic, one doesn't know. One has heard of a certain former CE of the airline in question who has been 'done', and carried his own catering on his own airline's flights, but maybe that is just hearsay! It is something nobody can really do anything about, isn't it? And as for 'proving' it, one can't really do that, either, can you? But they brag about doing it!

[Albert Driver]

Flyblue

Nowadays the threat, alone, is almost certainly a criminal act.

[flyblue]

Rainboe,
thank you for your reply. Of course anyone would be astonished to read that kind of news.
I was asking if there were any solid proof, because in my company you can't even claim "plain" food poisoning on board (it counts as an accident on the workplace in this case, not as a common illness) if you don't get tested (don't let me get specific on what you must test to prove it , but you can do it without the help of the company).
I think that it would be wise once and for all try to prove you got poisoned, instead of living on rumors that might, or might not, be legends. Of course the company can't take action on something that has never been proved. All would be different if you indeed had been tested positive to poisoning.

I don't work for BA and therefore has no direct knowledge. But in the 16 years I have been working in airlines, I have never personally witnessed or heard anyone bragging about such a criminally stupid thing. I would immediately have reported if I had, because a person doing this would surely not be mentally fit to fly.

This situation of incertitude is worse than the poison itself, because it is poisoning your trusting in the members of your own crew.

[junior_man]

I hear the TSA is now going to check all the BA crews in the USA with extra care to make sure you aren't carrying any Visine to poison each other with. Bad enough you flying around with 3 engines and all.

May include cavity searches as well.

[Rainboe]

Flyblue- I ask you, is it 'rumours' when someone proudly tells you they have done it themselves? And others tell you they have seen it done? It goes a little beyond rumour. But for me, it was long ago and something I really prefer to pass on now, but I know it happened. Just too many stories. Thing is, they tell you when the target is anonymous, and the event was on a different trip.

[crewmeal]

20+ years ago when the AIDS scares were abundant certain Capts refused to be served by gay stewards incase they would 'catch' something. One in particular made it quite clear he would refuse to eat anything seved by a 'suspect' male steward. What he didn't bargin for was a right hand flavoured yohurt served to him on an SFO flight by a stewardess!!!

Prior to that when flying classic 747's a certain flight engineer would always make himself known to the Johnny Walker black label bottle in the upper deck lounge bar while the main meal was being served on the lower deck. His reputation preceeded him and on one flight he helped himself to one 'Black Label' too many. Later that night he bought it along to a room party and he couldn't understand why no one wanted to share his drink, until he poured a measure - wish I had bought my camera to photograph the look on his face!!!

[LightTwin Driver]

A friend of mine who is BA cabin crew sent me this snippet from her forum:

Next BA News issue , first page

First Officer xxxxxx has been rushed to the hospital with food poisening. Primary supects are the EF Cabin Crew , due the comments made by Mr Dranse on the previous BA News Issue

She said that she cannot believe the attitude of a minority of her colleagues who openly make such threats and then add comments such as "only joking' a day or so later when they realise that their comments may have been taken seriously and possibly fowarded to the authorities.


She says she know for sure that some idiot cabin crew have not only put eye drops in pilot's drinks,but have also done it to 'annoying' passengers,as well as wiping their steaks around the toilet bowl and adding certain fluids to yoghurt !!!


I cannot believe that an airline would put up with such childish and possibly dangerous behaviour.

[wotsyors]

To be told over a few beers that that had been done, never mind the urban myths, changes your approach in the morning.
Trying to chivvy `em up to make an on time departure and then find an hour and half later you`ve been offered nothing in terms of liquid is a bit of a giveaway.
Unless you know them ask for a full large bottle, and then check the seal.
What`s funny about a runny tummy is beyond me, but then again l don`t understand why a CSA would intercept an engineer to explain,wrongly, an imagined problem on the flightdeck.
Surely not penis envy?
The key to this is to give CSA` s licences, with a number, and then we can bin mirrors in the galley.

[beamer]

One knew a loadmaster on cargo flights who pissed in certain pilots teas and coffees for years !

[cavortingcheetah]

Well, that's just fine so long as you're not the one scheduled for the arsenic agenda. Actually, I wonder if it would be self defence were a flight crew member to preempt a poisoning situation by exterminating a cabin crew member in the galley before the cockpit service?

[bar none]

As a ground staff member of BA who has served more years than he would care to remember I see pilots and cabin crew members on a daily basis. The scenario described in this thread would appear to occur about 5% of the time, i.e. 95% of the time the two communities get along famously.
In any cross section of society there are about 5% extremists thus the situation in BA is probably the norm

[cavortingcheetah]

I doubt that it is the norm for 5% of the population to run around introducing poisonous or noxious subtances into other people's food or drink. However, be that as it may, are we therefore to infer that some 5% of BA Cabin Crew are so pyschologically disturbed or whatever, as to render themselves potentially liable for criminal prosecution or civil damage's actions?

[wotsyors]

Cavortingcheater. The first part of that is surely a home truth for Iraq. And . . the brits tend to understate, so maybe, possibly, having read the advice issued by what passes for your overseas thingy, . er you may be wrong.

[Da Dog]

A certain sparklycart my be regretting their threat to posion a BA SFO.

[YYC F/A]

That certain SparklyCart also made clear that his/her post was completely in jest, and that they absolutely did not advocate endangering flight safety by carrying out such acts 'in real life'.

Whether the humour/'in jest' was appropriate or not is another question, but the OP has made it clear that he/she would absolutely not do such a thing.

I'm sure many of us will have said things in jest or humour which we'd never dream of doing.

If I seriously thought that one of my colleagues was likely to pull such a stunt as 'eye drops in coffee', I'd not only confront them about it, I'd put in the approriate 'heads up' to those who would need to investigate. However, in 8 years of flying, meeting and working with literally thousands of fellow crewmembers, there has only be one occasion where I've ever had to question a colleagues intergrity - and that wasn't at BA.

It'd be interesting to see some of the threads about BA Cabin Crew on the BALPA forum - there apparently is no shortage of pilots who seem to trawl through the private 'membership only' BASSA forums!