Air steward suffered bout of paranoia during flight

AN Aer Lingus cabin steward has lost his claim for unfair dismissal after suffering a bout of paranoia in the middle of a transatlantic flight he claimed was the result of inadvertently consuming a cannabis-laced cookie.

The Employment Appeals Tribunal agreed with claims by lawyers for Aer Lingus that the actions of Miguel Saez Sanchez, who is originally from Spain, amounted to gross misconduct.

An EAT hearing last April heard that Mr Sanchez, aged 32, of Avondale Square, Dunboyne, Co Meath, had suffered hallucinations during the flight, believing passengers were taking photographs of him and laughing about him, while also convinced fleas and lice were crawling all over his face and body.

Mr Sanchez explained he had spent a few days with friends in Los Angeles before he was due to work on a return flight between San Francisco and Dublin on March 20, 2009.

The air steward said he had eaten what appeared like a normal chocolate chip cookie in his friend’s kitchen on the night before the flight. He was told it contained cannabis an hour later after he complained of feeling unwell.

In its ruling, the tribunal said it was satisfied Mr Sanchez had consumed a mixture of alcohol, diet pills and cannabis in the days and hours before reporting for duty. The EAT said it was irrelevant whether Mr Sanchez had consciously taken cannabis as he had been informed he had taken the drug and he was plainly aware that he was suffering bouts of hallucinations and paranoia.

It claimed the important point was that the cabin steward had failed to report this to the airline’s management in good time.

However, it said it was significant that it was Mr Sanchez who had drawn attention to his line manager about his incapacity to attend to his work duties within a half-hour of the flight taking off.

But it also concluded the fact that he had reported for duty given his condition was serious and amounted to serious misconduct.

Given Mr Sanchez had previously been given a final written warning over the use of a cancelled credit card to buy items on flights, the tribunal said Aer Lingus was justified in firing him.