Flying drunk no joke, feds say
By Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Originally published 05:45 p.m., June 23, 2008
Updated 05:45 p.m., June 23, 2008
Police photo
Christina Szele in an undated police mug shot.
U.S. Attorney Troy Eid vowed to get-tough with a record number of often-drunk passengers behaving badly on commercial airliners.
"The message is we're not going to put up with this," Colorado's top federal prosecutor said.
"We have a record number of incidents involving interference with flight attendants. We see it all over the country," said Eid, noting that U.S. attorneys have been holding meetings on how to combat the air rage epidemic. Statistics from the Federal Aviation Administration were not available Monday.
"I think sometimes people think this is a joke. They think it's funny. And they're going to find out otherwise as we do more and more of these cases," he vowed.
Eid spoke outside U.S. District Court in Denver after a court hearing for Christina E. Szele, 35, a New York woman accused of disrupting a JetBlue flight by punching a flight attendant and screaming curses and racial slurs after a cigarette was snatched out of her mouth.
The pilot diverted the New York-to-San Francisco flight to Denver International Airport last week because the flight crew and passengers were fearful of Szele, who broke free of plastic flex cuffs, threatening to kill a flight attendant.
Szele, of Woodside, N.Y., faces federal charges of assaulting a flight attendant and interfering with a flight crew.
While federal prosecutors asked that Szele remained locked up because she posed a threat to public safety, Federal Judge Michael J. Watanabe allowed her release on $10,000 bail while requiring her to not use alcohol or drugs, stay off airliners and undergo regular drug-and-alcohol testing.
"The government's position, obviously, was that Miss Szele should stay locked up," Eid said. "But we're pleased that she won't being flying on airplanes any time soon."
Eid said he believes controlling alcohol could help stem the problem, saying drinking was involved in the Szele case and other air rage convictions in Denver — a woman accused of beating her young children on a flight and arguing with a flight attendant who cut off her alcohol and a male passenger who reached across a husband seated next to him to grope that man's wife.
"It's a very unpopular position for me to talk about, but I'll say it: People drink took much on flights."
"I don't know why people feel like anything goes on an airplane," he added.A 2003 Canadian study came to the same conclusion, noting that about 40 percent of air rage incidents were alcohol-related.
During the 30 minute court hearing, a subdued Szele was clad in blue-and-white striped jail garb and handcuffs.
FBI Special Agent Joel Nishida testified that Szele became violent after flight attendants repeatedly stopped her from smoking onboard, which is illegal.
Things got worse when the flight attendant asked her to move from an emergency exit row, because he was worried about the safety of her sitting there.
"She was out of control," the agent recounted, " ... kicking, screaming (and) yelling racial epithets and profanities."
The crew bound her hands with plastic flex cuffs, but she broke free and punched the flight attendant in the face, Nishida said. She also scratched, kicked and shoved a JetBlue ground security coordinator who happened to be on onboard and was asked to sit beside and monitor the woman after the disturbances.
Szele, who is white, unleashed a barrage of profanity and racial slurs against the black male flight attendant who stopped her smoking before punching him in the jaw.
"I'm going to find out where you leave. I'm going to kill you," Szele allegedly yelled, the FBI agent testified.
Nishida noted that Szele had a history of drug and alcohol-fueled disturbances, including another June incident at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport where she was turned away from a security checkpoint for allegedly being intoxicated and using profanity.
In August 2007, Szele was caught illegally smoking in a lavatory on a San Francisco-to-New York JetBlue flight, Nishida said.
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June 23, 2008
12:41 p.m.
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SickNTired writes:
Charming.
June 23, 2008
12:48 p.m.
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freethought writes:
They need to cuff her to her barstool.
June 23, 2008
12:54 p.m.
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Dhakala writes:
I don't see any good reason to serve alcohol on planes, or to allow obviously intoxicated persons on planes.
June 23, 2008
12:55 p.m.
BroncoRick69 writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
June 23, 2008
1:03 p.m.
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Bagel writes:
Dhakala, I don't see any good reason to give out free bags of pretzels on planes.
Bad behaviour should be punished, but not by getting rid of things that could potentially cause it.
June 23, 2008
1:03 p.m.
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AC writes:
Rick: Then you must REALLY be desperate. I wouldn't let her anywhere near me.
June 23, 2008
1:05 p.m.
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FlyfishDude52 writes:
Looks like, from the photo, that she already been done & done & done & put away wet...
June 23, 2008
1:06 p.m.
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jonmichaels80 writes:
Did anyone edit this or at least spell check it, or was this a product of you bring your child to work day? Sloppy journalism and editing....good work RMN!
June 23, 2008
1:07 p.m.
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SickNTired writes:
Why the long face?
June 23, 2008
1:12 p.m.
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Driver1 writes:
I sure hope that her sentence includes restitution:
• It can’t be cheap to divert an airliner to Denver, land, refuel and take off again.
• In the time it took to get her arrested, taken off the plane and witness statements – all the other passengers were affected. I hope they will allow her to purchase a refund for all affected.
Until we get serious about making alcohol criminals pay for their own justice - we will never be able to deter them
June 23, 2008
1:13 p.m.
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Dhakala writes:
Bagel, snacks aren't free on planes any more, and nuts are often banned due to other people's allergies. As for eliminating the causes of bad behavior, are you suggesting that we do nothing about heroin, crack, or meth too?
Of course, if airlines wanted to reduce bad behavior, they might stop packing people into planes like sardines. :-)
June 23, 2008
1:19 p.m.
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BroncoRick69 writes:
Alcohol criminals huh. I think we have a new classification.
June 23, 2008
1:35 p.m.
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temurlan writes:
So they will ban her from flying. She'll be better on the road?
"Why the long face?" Ok, that was funny.
Side note to RMN: Ever hear of proof reading? Jeez, that was a painful read.
June 23, 2008
2:06 p.m.
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freethought writes:
Was the editor off yesterday? This was the most non-sensical run-on article I have read since junior high.
June 23, 2008
2:08 p.m.
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RickyLee writes:
Is WAS painful!
She looks REALLY smart, eh?
What did this idiot think was going to happen when she fired up a ciggy in her seat?!? Quite the addiction there. The most deadly one, as a matter of fact.
June 23, 2008
2:10 p.m.
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joggle writes:
Bagel: What percentage of crimes are caused by people being affected by pretzels vs. the percentage of crimes by intoxicated people? A very large percentage of crimes in the US are alcohol-related (can't find the exact percentage, but I'm pretty sure it's north of 30%). There's a reason many universities ban selling alcohol at sport events.
I agree with Dhakala, there really is no good reason to sell alcohol on flights. I've had the distinct displeasure of sitting next to very drunk people on flights (usually they're already drunk and given even more alcohol on the flight). If smokers can live a few hours without a cigarette I think everyone else can live without booze for the same length of time.
June 23, 2008
2:18 p.m.
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wow writes:
Why the long face...Bawahahaha!!
What a freak. And RMN, really..."set" in place of sit?
I think they made HER write the article as part of her restitution.
June 23, 2008
2:37 p.m.
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Hambone writes:
I doubt she got that drunk on the plane. She was absolutely boozing prior to the flight. BTW, her last name is very close to SLEAZY.
June 23, 2008
2:49 p.m.
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timeandagain writes:
Typical New York trash!
June 23, 2008
3:30 p.m.
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JB writes:
Don't ban liquor on planes! What am I supposed to do on those long, boring flights to Europe!? Sometimes it's the only thing that makes the person next to me tolerable! lol...
Seriously though, just because a few dummies get hammered and are stupid, don't ban it from those of us who DO know how to be responsible. By that logic, we might as well just do away with bars because some people drive drunk.
June 23, 2008
3:44 p.m.
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momof5 writes:
Don't ban liquor from the plane. Ban her. She's the moron who doesn't know how to behave in public. Let her take the train or the bus. And if she screws up there, she can drive or walk.
June 23, 2008
3:51 p.m.
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temurlan writes:
Don't even worry about how she will transport herself. She's going to jail anyway.
June 23, 2008
3:56 p.m.
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Bagel writes:
joggle, the pretzels line was a joke, meant to illustrate my point. Cigarette smoke is bad for others in your immediate vicinity. Drinking is not. You might think it affects the quality of your trip, but the same rationale could be said of a person's perfume, or choice of clothing, or overall appearance. You can't impose upon others choices that have no affect on you.
June 23, 2008
3:58 p.m.
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Oroboros writes:
"Until we get serious about making alcohol criminals pay for their own justice - we will never be able to deter them"
The problem with excessive alcohol use is that it impairs judgement, especially regarding the consequences of one's actions. Do you truly believe that increasing the consequences is going to make it harder for drunk people to ignore them?
From the article: "In August 2007, Szele was caught illegally smoking in a lavatory on a San Francisco-to-New York JetBlue flight, Nishida said."
So, we can presume she has previously paid a $1000 fine for breaking the law in that case, and was undeterred. I doubt that a posted $10k or $100k fine would have made the slightest bit of difference.
If we don't want drunk people on planes, then yes, I agree that we ought to stop serving alcohol at the airports entirely (personally, I think its not that big of an issue to warrant such a drastic measure).
June 23, 2008
4:13 p.m.
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wow writes:
"Until we get serious about making alcohol criminals pay for their own justice - we will never be able to deter them"
The problem is with people who know they are jerks when they drink, and choose to do it any way. You have to start out sober, and at that stage you should know better than to get drunk and stupid, yet again. She was turned away from a flight before this for the same obnoxiousness.
If they threw the book at this type of person, they would get it, and the rest of us could have a martini in peace.
Banning alcohol in airports won't help anyway. You can be drunk when you arrive.
June 23, 2008
4:15 p.m.
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gr8fuldude writes:
This woman makes lonliness and celibacy seem like great lifestyle choices.
June 23, 2008
4:41 p.m.
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Diff writes:
So your all saying that alcohol makes people bad.
That's like saying Guns kill people.
Both are false statements!
Chances are with or with out the influence of alcohol she was probably a jerk, and had little regard or respect for others.
Or herself
Get off the anti alcohol BS!
June 23, 2008
5:28 p.m.
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Mtn__Gator writes:
She's got the face for radio, I'll give her that...
June 23, 2008
5:28 p.m.
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joggle writes:
It's not BS. Check how many incidences occur on planes and how many of them involved drunk passengers. Every article I ever read in the paper about somebody acting up on a plane causing a flight diversion involved alcohol. Sure people could still get drunk before getting on board and the obvious solution to that is if they're too drunk to simply not let them on the flight in the first place.
Frankly I'd rather sit next to somebody smoking than somebody as drunk as anyone you'd meet at a bar (and I don't smoke and have flown back in the days when smoking was allowed on flights).
June 23, 2008
6:18 p.m.
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Escape writes:
Spell check RMN!!!! Don't make me read that garbage again!!!
That girl seems like a real douch.
I bet Daddy gets her off.
June 23, 2008
6:38 p.m.
Suggest removal
jjez writes:
Put her on the no-fly list! Wait, then she'd probably find some lawyer to sue TSI and get free, liquored-up flights for the rest of her life! It would be interesting to know if she got drunk at the AIRPORT, of if she showed up that way. They make bars & bartenders accountable for not cutting drunk drivers off, why not drunk flyers? Someone should have cut her off long before she got on that plane. And you're right Diff, she's probably like that sober, too!