An American Airlines flight attendant who showed up for work reeking of booze was found to be more than four times the legal limit, a report says.
Cynthia Struble, 64, appeared intoxicated when she was stopped by security in December at London’s Heathrow Airport before a flight to her hometown of Dallas, Texas, the Birmingham Live reported.
The security officer initially told the flight attendant to step aside because her bag was rejected during X-ray screening.
“I started to engage in conversation with her, and as she was talking, I could smell alcohol strongly,” security officer Angela Klaire wrote in a statement read in Uxbridge Court on Tuesday.
Klaire said she asked Struble to sit down while she called her manager, but the flight attendant continued to head to the gate for her 9:30 a.m. flight.
Another security officer was then dispatched to stop Struble from boarding. She was brought to a local police station and submitted to a blood-alcohol test, according to The Independent.
The toxicology report found that she was more than four times the legal limit allowed in the UK for flight crews.
Struble’s lawyer argued that she never tried to perform any of her flight-attendant duties at the time, only entering the gate of the plane.
“She was standing on her head for all we know,” her lawyer, David Sonn, told the court, according to the Daily Mail.
Struble didn’t appear for the hearing, where she was ordered to pay $1,169 in fines and lawyer fees.
American Airlines said in a statement to The Post on Tuesday, “Safety is our highest priority. American is aware of an incident involving a member of its crew at London Heathrow in December 2018. We continue to cooperate with local law enforcement and further questions should be referred to them.”