A Delta Air Lines passenger claims a flight attendant refused to serve him more alcohol not because he was drunk, but because of the flight attendant’s Mormon faith.
Delta Passenger Blames Mormon Flight Attendant After Being Cut Off From Alcohol In First Class
A man was traveling from Salt Lake City (SLC) to Cancun (CUN) on Delta Air Lines in first class and claims a “Peter Priesthood” flight attendant cut him off even though he was slowly enjoying his alcohol with food during the 4.5-hour flight.
Here’s the complaint in its full context:
SLC is my home airport. I travel at least monthly for work and take about three vacations per year. I am Diamond and am usually in Comfort+ with an occasional upgrade to first class. On work trips, I very rarely will order an adult beverage on a flight. On vacations that are not long-haul flights, I will imbibe.
I have had my fair share of bizarre interactions and/or observations of the religious SLC-based flight crew over the years, but my recent experience takes the cake. Flew round-trip SLC to Cancun and purchased first class for a special occasion. On the way to Cancun, we had fabulous service, pre-departure beverage, and 3 more drinks over 4 hours and 20 minutes with a full meal and two snacks.
On the way back, we had Peter Priesthood as the first class attendant. This time the flight was 4.5 hours No pre-departure beverage. He took away my 1/3 full first sparkling wine while I was still enjoying my meal and replaced it with sparkling water. I asked him for another sparkling wine and he acted shocked. Had to flag him down for every single thing (no paper towels in bathroom, can we clear my meal tray, etc). He was face down in his phone the majority of the flight or talking football with some football coach one row ahead of me.
After two snacks and a full meal, I requested my fourth (really 3 and 2/3rds as he took my 1/3 glass earlier) and final sparkling wine. He loudly told me that I had drunk two bottles already and he would not over serve me. I was shocked. Since when does 3 1/3 glasses equal two full bottles? WTF? I asked for ice water instead and he completely ignored me and never brought me water.
Cutting People Off When They Are Not Intoxicated Is Unacceptable
What an interesting issue this is. Let’s assume, for purposes of our discussion, that the first class passenger was not showing any signs of being intoxicated. Three glasses of wine throughout a four-hour flight, with meal service and snacks, does not sound over-the-top to me, considering Delta’s glasses are not massive.
My hunch is that the passenger is likely correct that “Peter Preisthood” (a term I had not previously heard of, meaning a devout LDS member) may have let his own personal aversion to alcohol get in the way of his judgment. While the prohibition against alcohol and caffeine is not rigid, many Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) members take seriously the Word of Wisdom, a purported revelation from their prophet Joseph Smith that discourages the use of alcohol, tobacco, and “hot drinks” (and there is no baptism or temple worship for those who consume alcohol).
It’s not inconceivable to me that the flight attendant thought he was doing the man a favor by cutting him off. But it’s not up to a flight attendant to decide for someone that they do not need another alcoholic drink. Rather, the authority of a flight attendant is to watch for any signs of intoxication and then cut off a passenger. Absent those signs, some people can drink like fish with no effect, and as unhealthy as that is, that is their prerogative.
CONCLUSION
A Delta first class passenger was denied an additional alcoholic beverage by a flight attendant who decided that three glasses was enough, despite no visible signs of being intoxicated or even buzzed. The passenger blames the flight attendant’s Mormon faith for limiting his alcohol.
Whatever happened on this particular flight, I think we can agree that religious conviction is not a valid reason for a flight attendant to cut off a passenger from drinking. The only valid reason is signs of intoxication.
What do you think about this issue?
top image: Delta Air Lines
I think he’s just a bad flight attendant. I’ve never lived in Utah, but I lived in Nevada for a while and had a ton of LDS friends and colleagues. I’ve never felt that they had any issue with me drinking around them in public places. In fact, I would argue that of religious people in the United States, LDS are some of the least outwardly judgmental of others.
Same here with respect to many LDS friends across the country. I would say though that there’s definitely a difference between those in Utah (not all of course) and those outside of Utah. Outside of Utah, it’s a religion. Inside of Utah, it’s a culture, if that makes sense.
@Jerry … +1 . Yep .
Next trip : (a) BYOB ; (b) Don’t go to Cancun .
It sounds like he is a bad FA in general, maybe nothing to do with his religion. It would strengthen the passenger’s case if the FA was refusing to serve alcohol to the other passengers as well. Otherwise based on all the things he noticed, he just seems like a lazy FA.
I spent time in Utah as a ski bum after college and in later years briefly for work. Amazing state if you’re into the outdoors, but definitely a quirky culture! Peter Priesthood is married to Molly Mormon. Jack Mormon is their redheaded stepchild.
Sorry, not buying the passenger’s entire story. He’s acting like he was a pure angel. I’m not saying the FA wasn’t bad, but I also think there’s more to it.
Seriously. Even the most anti anti-mormon would at least have an iota of skepticism over this over-the-top complaint. But apparently if Matthew sees it on Reddit, and it fits his preferred narrative, it must be accepted as totally true and we also must be outraged.
(P.S. pro-tip: if you’re perusing Reddit gossip for factual and insightful blog material, you may want to change up your info-gathering method. lol)
Chris, this struck me as an interesting and plausible story, considering I’ve had LDS roommates, LDS neighbors, and delved very deeply into that faith. This is not totally far-fetched.
The poster gave zero evidence of how he’d even know the FA’s faith. He sounds like an entitled a-hole. If the FA had a problem serving alcohol because of his religion he would have never served him any at all and would likely never have taken the job in the first place.
Bad and lazy FA. tell him to get a job with SPRIT and fly the EWR/LAS route
Pretty sure you have the strangest blog post subjects of any “travel” blog I’ve seen. Mostly highly judgmental and criticism. And why am I not surprised at all that you take every word of this completely one-sided bizarre and highly questionable description of this totally unverifiable complaint as gospel (excuse the pun) truth with no questions asked. Lots of anti-Mormon stuff out there, so great job giving a little more platform to it without even a hint of skepticism. Keep up the great work helping us all enjoy traveling more and have more fun.
smh
I’m so sorry I offended your very thin skin, and you feel persecuted by this post.
Fact is, I do not believe LDS truth claims, but I view Mormons as some of the most decent people in this country and engage often with LDS friends over doctrinal differences. I also regularly listen to Jacob Hansen to seek to even better understand the faith.
This story resonated to me because of some LDS folks that I know…and if you read what I wrote, you can actaully see that I did not authoritatively declare this happened, but initiated discussion assuming that it did.
Try not to be so easily offended.
Report him. Include a copy of your boarding pass with seat assignment. FA must serve alcohol as part of their duties. If pax is drunk they can refuse etc. This guy is not fit for FA duties and needs a talking too
If the guy was against alcohol he wouldn’t serve any.
Like others have said, just another sh#tty FA, nothing to see here.
That’s just not true. Of course he’d get in trouble if he refused to serve drinks at all, but cutting someone off very early, long before they are even buzzed, is a more effective way to control behavior.
I live in Utah part of the year. Many Mormons are superficially polite, but will drop this pretense if you’re around long enough and are not a conversion prospect. Those of us of other faiths with children find ourselves iced out of birthday parties, neighborhood gatherings and even some community events that are not church sponsored.
All that to say, this doesn’t shock me. While the state has liberalized alcohol laws of late, this was done for business reasons and do not change the theocratic vibes that sit right below the surface in Utah.
100% this. Lotta repression w/ that LDS crew as well. Especially the males
There is no evidence whatsoever to imply that the FA is Mormon, other than the fact that he was SLC based. It’s unfair to blame the religion with absolutely no indication that this was the issue. It’s stereotyping at best and bigoted at worst. The speculation and willingness to blame the FA for this based on a supposed religious conviction makes me believe the passenger may not be so innocent in this.
And no, I’m not LDS and have no issues with alcohol.
Thank you,Dave.
SLC is much less Mormon that when Delta took over the hub from Western almost 40 years ago.
One per hour on a 4 hour plus flight is bordering on excessive.
Waiting until someone shows signs of having had too much is too late.
If having water put in front of you sets you off, you might be better suited to serving yourself at home
Since the typical adult metabolites about a drink an hour, a drink an hour is “bordering on excessive”? Maybe to anti-alcohol folks.
you don’t understand the difference between drinking at sea level and airplane cabins which are pressured to 6-8000 feet?
“A purported revelation from their prophet”
I’m against all religions but this is just weird wording. Shall non Christian’s refer to teachings of Christ as “purported revelations from their prophet”
Anyway, bash away
Yes, same from Xtianity.
LDS doctrine, however, strikes me as harder to defend and more easily falsifiable.
But I understand people say that about my Protestantism. I greatly respect those sincere adherents of the LDS faith.
Well…what can i say. I feel happy for him. I recently flew from Heraklion to Munich in an otherwise empty business class. When I noticed that i finished a bottle of wine, I said something like „thanks. I guess I’ll continue with water.“ and the flight attendant replied „no worries. I have more bottles.“
What I’m trying to say: instead of enjoying the extra space and calmness, I maximized and had a hangover. Had to return to MUC to pick-up my car.
But well…looking back completely stupid…but still fun!
The imbiber : ” I’ve had my fair share of bizarre interactions with the SLC crew in the past”
This strikes me as a bias that has festered into judgement on our imbiber’s part. Without the FA account it’s a little dubious.
Religion belongs between an individual, their deity/deities, and their spiritual advisor (if any). It does not belong on someone’s job to be paraded out in public. If you can’t deal with that simple tenet then get another job where you won’t be thrust into uncomfortable situations.
I am a former Mormon, a former Utahn and a former Flight Attendant. IF this is truly the behavior that the FA exhibited then they should not be flying. BUT I have serious doubts as to the veracity of the story. I have family in Utah and fly DL First Class to SLC almost monthly from Florida. I enjoy a PDB, maybe a cocktail and def wine with lunch. I have never encountered anything but great service from SLC based crew. And yes, there is a “LDS look” and attitude but I have never ever had an issue and this goes back decades for me.
I’m so 100% sure that this story isn’t omitting any details whatsoever and is completely accurate . . . .
So many people what to call this person a bad flight attendant but let’s dig deeper. The passenger says pre-departures were not served leaving CUN, well that is because beverage carts containing alcohol must remain sealed on international flights back to the US. If customs and boarder agents in Mexico were to board a US airline and the beverage carts are unsealed the airline would be fined and also have a to pay taxes on every bottle of liquor contained within the beverage cart. I’ve been on international flights back to the US where FA’s did do pre-departure with liquor but they are NOT supposed to do so those carts are to remain sealed until the aircraft is in the air. Secondly the passenger by their own account requested their 4th drink on a flight, 1 drink at altitude is the equivalent of 2 drinks on the ground so 4 drinks even with a meal and snacks is the equivalent of of 8 drinks. Flight attendants are trained to slow people down so that they don’t reach the point of intoxication. The whole point of 14 CFR 121.575 isn’t to cut someone off once they are pass the point of intoxication but empower FA’s to keep people from getting to the point of intoxication. Further more CFR 135.121 prohibits airlines from serving anyone who APPEARS to be intoxicated and that is for safety reasons which is why most airlines empower their FA’s to either slow someone down or cut someone off before they reach the point of intoxication.
The lavatory being out of paper towels could be true it does happen on flights but it seems like the customer threw in the paper towel complaint hopping it would be icing on the cake but in my opinion and according to the FAA if the flight attendant had reasonable suspicion that this customer could be heading towards intoxication then the FA had every right to slow down if not cut off the person entirely and that does not make them a bad flight attendant. Four drinks in the air without a pre-departure I think the FA should be commended for being observant. People need to remember they are on an airplane at 35,000 feet not at a bar on the ground. Being in first class or even comfort plus does not entire you to unlimited alcohol because once intoxication happens it is the flight attendant who has to answer some tough questions as to who they allowed it to happen.
“Further more CFR 135.121 prohibits airlines from serving anyone who APPEARS to be intoxicated and that is for safety reasons which is why most airlines empower their FA’s to either slow someone down or cut someone off before they reach the point of intoxication.”
If the regulatory cut-off is “appearing” intoxicated, that doesn’t provide any justification for cutting someone off “before” they appear intoxicated. That leaves the situation open to such a wide range of interpretations as to be meaningless.
and NO ONE is the first person to acknowledge that THEY THEMSELVES have had too much.
ANY complaints about being cut off should be taken w/ a very small grain of truth.
Again 4 drinks on the ground in less than 4 hours probably not a problem. However 4 drinks in the air on an aircraft pressurized to 8,000 feet becomes 8 drinks once the liquor is metabolized. That is where the slow down comes into effect where flight attendants will purposely slow down a customer to give their body time to metabolize the alcohol they’ve already drank. Cutting someone off once the appearance is already there is too late especially if you’ve already served them another drink or two. Slowing down the number of drinks served is the right move, the problem is some passengers look at a slow down as a cut off. I’ve seen flight attendants after serving a customer 3 or 4 drinks not serve them another for an hour and the person is fine. On the other hand I’ve seen passengers get upset with FA’s who slow them down with alcohol and the FA makes a decision to cut them off entirely based off their actions to the FA slowing them down.
By the persons own complaint they had 4 drinks between the 10,000 foot double ding, meal service and snacks the FA was well within their rights to slow them down. And who knows what the customers response was if their response was and what caused the FA to then cut them off. I’d be interested to hear what other passengers observed between this passenger and their interaction with the FA prior to being cutoff.
I’ve been on several flights with intoxicated passengers and my first thought is why didn’t FA’s cut this person off sooner especially if they have another drink in front of them. Sometimes these things happen so quickly where a person goes from fine to intoxicated because their body has just metabolize the liquor. I will always given the FA the benefit of the doubt when it comes making the decision as to when to cut some one off. It isn’t a pleasant experience for others onboard once the person APPEARS intoxicated. Appearing intoxicated in most cases means the person IS intoxicated especially in the air..
Those glasses of wine in the air are smaller than those served on the ground. FAs are not infallible in their judgment.
No one says FA’s are infallible in their judgment. Nevertheless it is their job to make that judgement call based off a number of factors including how many drinks they’ve already served the customer and how the customer responds when the FA decides its time to slow down the amount of alcohol this individual consumes on the plane. It is a judgement call and in most situations the airline will always side with the FA when someone is cut off because of those CFRs.
The beauty of a new american religion like TCOJCOLDS is that it shines a light on the … curious intellectual baggage of ALL religion. Hearing a protestant, catholic, muslim, buddhist, et al cry foul about ‘defensibility’ or ‘falsity’ is amusing to no end. Don’t leave us all in suspense–please continue making your case, Klint!
I unexpectedly had a surly Finnair flight attendant say “that’s your last drink” when handing me my 3rd drink on a 9 hour flight in business. I hadn’t made a peep the entire flight and was traveling solo. Didn’t push back as it was going to be my last anyway, but it was a little odd to have her act like I was some kind of problem drinker for no reason. When you leave service up to the discretion of the crew, you’re always going to get a few who make arbitrarily weird decisions with no clear justification. Flight attendants are as haphazard in their judgments as any member of the public.
Could someone explain me something?
Why FA are so powerful in the US?
Why do they lack too often the culture of good service? Especially on AA.
In Europe, the purser would come in these situations to manage the situation.
Why cell-phones are not prohibited for FA onbard like almost everywhere in Europe, Africa, M-E and Asia?
It should be at least for obvious security reasons.
Many US flight attendants seem to truly believe they are present for safety reasons only, and that delivering actual customer service is either not in their job description or is secondary to their “safety” role. Their Unions also push this myth hard, and will go to the ends of the earth to protect employees who would be managed out in any other service industry. They’re further emboldened by the legal requirement for pax to follow their instructions under pain of federal prosecution, and a small but highly visible minority obviously get a huge stiffy/wide-on from wielding this power over their customers.
That makes so much sense now you’ve explained it that way. Pushing the safety angle is a wage bargaining tool.
first, people have commented on this very reported incident that European airline FAs have also cut off premium cabin passengers.
second, Americans are more confrontational
third, there are just more Americans traveling in premium cabins IN more premium cabins than from any other country so the sheer number of incidents is going to be disproportionately higher.
and finally we still don’t have the FAs side of the story – and the basis here is that being cut off was about religion solely because of where the crew was based.
This is the typical poorly constructed and magnified one-sided passenger complaint
Cell phone USEAGE on US flag carriers are prohibited by two sets of regulations. The Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Communications Commission. Flight attendants, like passengers, are required to either turn off their cell phones OR put them in the “airplane mode”. Some airlines provide the cabin crews with a mobile device, like the pilot’s iPads, for company use both on the ground and in the air using discrete WiFi SSID at the airport or airborne. They are not prohibited from using them for personal use when not servicing customers needs. Do some abuse that privilege? Yes.
Delta seems to have quite the standard deviation experiences in flight attendants.
I’ve had experiences on Delta that I’ve just never had on AA or UA. On my last 2 of 5 flights in first class on Delta, I sat next to an objectively attractive guy. Each of those times, we happened to have a first class FA on Delta that was gay. I could care less about that but the level of professionalism was unbelievably horrible. The guys seated next to me were straight and would look awkwardly at me when the FA was in the galley area but the Flight Attendants probably spent about 30% of each flight kneeling down or leaning on a chair to speak and flirt to the guys next to me.
I’m sure it happens on other airlines but Delta is incredibly inconvenient for me vs UA and AA and I’ve just never experienced that on AA or UA so it’s rather stunning when that happens on so many flights in the last year.
It’s Reagan’s legacy to have people, especially the Christian right whinge shove their own religion down others throats. As you sow, so shall you reap
Reagan never did that , ever .
Defibitely one of his better legacies.
Sorry, meant to say not one of his better legacies.
I’m gonna call “foul” on this complaint. The flight attendant probably cut him off because he was getting drunk! Four drinks at altitude is gonna make a belligerent drunk and no one wants that onboard. I can’t speak for this incident but most Latter Day Saints that I know don’t care if someone partakes in alcohol. However, a drunk is a DRUNK and most “sane” people don’t like drunks!