A prominent Chicago socialite in the art scene has been placed on leave after reportedly stripping his clothes off on a United Airlines flight to Munich in Polaris business class.
Prominent Chicagoan In Hot Water After Stripping On United Airlines Flight
James Rondeau is the President and Director of the Art Institute of Chicago. He’s paid over $1 million a year for his work in that role, which he assumed in 2016.
Reports have emerged of an incident concerning Rondeau on United Airlines flight 953 from Chicago (ORD) to Munich MUC) on April 18, 2025. According to witnesses onboard, at one point in the flight, he stripped off all his clothes in front of other passengers in the Polaris Business Class cabin. Police were called and met the flight at Munich’s Franz Josef Strauss International Airport.
The incident occurred after Rondeau mixed alcohol with prescription medication, a common theme when it comes to explaining poor behavior onboard.
While no criminal charges against Rondeau have been revealed, he has taken “voluntary leave” as the Art Institute investigates what occurred onboard:
“The Art Institute takes this very seriously and has opened an independent investigation into the incident to gather all available information. Art Institute leadership is meeting to determine next steps.”
Maybe Rondeau thought he was flying Emirates?
In all seriousness, if Rondeau had no previous history of these sorts of disturbances, I’m willing to cut him a lot of slack, especially if he did not consume copious amounts of alcohol. Combine medication, alcohol, and a pressurized airplane cabin and you can have trouble, even when the drinking is in moderation.
I’m reaching the point in life when I struggle to sleep on airplanes, and the thought of using sleep aids when traveling has crossed my mind. If I ever do, you can bet that I will be drinking water only…this story is hardly unique, and it seems far too dangerous for me to ever risk.
Finally, it seems somewhat fitting that this happened on a flight to Germany, a country that is quite open and tolerant of nudity. I think back to the Hinterwäldler on my flight from Frankfurt to Chicago, where a man also disrobed after having far too much to drink as we approached our destination…
I expect we won’t hear any more updates about this, but we will know if Rondeau is “cleared” if he returns to his position. This incident is another reminder of the dangerous combination of certain prescription drugs with alcohol. Be wise!
> Read More: Man Performs Striptease in Aisle On My United Flight
I think it’s disgusting that a nonprofit with just $360m turnover pays over a million dollars per annum to one person. I know and have worked with people responsible for running organisations with thousands of employees and billions of turnover earning less than half that. A million dollars isn’t what it used to be 20 years ago, but surely when one goes into the public, education or charity sectors, they are aware that effectively paying yourself that kind of money while relying on donors and/or taxpayers is difficult to align with the sort of mission statement that these organisations have, the optics of the practice aren’t very good, and you cannot really demonstrate you’re worth it by having generated the competitive advantage and overall added value that drives executive pay in business.
I would normally agree with your stance about not getting rid of staff who’ve done something ill-advised outside of work, but I think that this particular case is different.
@PM … +1 .
This gives a whole new meaning to Air Strip
That is not an unreasonable salary for someone who is in charge of raising over $300 million per year. The head of the Whitney in NY is paid the same and only has to raise $100 million.
I think it’s an unreasonable salary for anyone, but that doesn’t mean I’m in favor of the government setting wage ceilings or other such intrusion.
I certainly wouldn’t support any direct bans/limits, but there are ways to ‘nudge’ employers in a certain direction by e.g. stipulating a need to publish pay dispersion metrics (e.g. ratio of highest to median salary) in annual reports and generally ensuring the information is readily available to donors and/or taxpayers as applicable.
Matthew have you considered the copious amount of coffee enjoyed might be source of your sleep difficulty? Before attempting medication try to dial back the caffeine. Whatever happens with Rondeau, he is in charge of the largest collection in the US, so maybe it’s time for a break.
It might be the coffee, but I drink my last cup of coffee at 17:00 each day and don’t have any trouble falling asleep at home, often by 21:00.
caffeine can stay in your body for up to 12 hours. 5 pm is way too late
Thank you, doctor.
@Derek: I think every person/body processes things in different ways. I can take an espresso right before bed (I do in Italy after every dinner) and will sleep like an angel. I never take decaffeinated coffee and never had any issues sleeping because of caffeine. Alcohol is a different beast as more than 1 glass of wine at dinner will have a direct effect in how I sleep at night.
While I’m not loving this if the guy has a clean history and since nobody was groped, injured, harassed, or seemingly really hurt I’d say let this be his one time and only one time exception and let it go. This isn’t one of those incidents where a preacher molests a teenage girl then claims it just happened because he was drunk or something similar where there’s an actual victim.
I was on an Air France flight late last month. Business-class, Paris to Detroit. About 45 minutes before landing, the man in front of me stood up in the aisle, took off their pants and put on new pants. I saw their underwear. So, I think this happens more than you might think.
Do you think this is a sleeping pill thing? Cause eew.
I suppose it could be people waking up and thinking they’re at home.
‘Germany, a country quite open and tolerant of nudity?’ Mmm, no, not on airplanes…
I do wonder if the outcome would be different if this was on LH vs UA metal.
White dude for Harris.
What exactly does “stripped off all his clothes mean?” Fully nude? In his undies? As shown in the pic? I do not support this in any way shape or form but there is a big difference IMHO. I’ve seen what is shown in the pic numerous times on a a plane and no one was ever bothered by that.
@Matthew: do you wear any sleep tracking devices? I have been wearing an Oura Ring for the last 4 years and it changed my life. You get precise data about your sleep and I was able to figure out what makes me sleep better or not. Time of dinner, type of dinner, alcohol, stress, etc… There is a lot to learn about sleep.
My advice is to avoid prescription sleeping medicines. Those things are of the devil, and it’s best not to go anywhere near them. I just accept that I’m going to have an interrupted night of sleep on a long flight.
Gross.
That doesn’t look like a UA flight…those seats don’t match anything in their inventory
You’ll have to read a little closer.