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Home » United Airlines » The Sleeping United Pilot Story Was Fake News
United Airlines

The Sleeping United Pilot Story Was Fake News

Matthew Klint Posted onSeptember 13, 2018November 14, 2023 4 Comments

a close up of a uniform

Earlier this week I defended a United Airlines pilot who took a nap during an overnight flight from New York to Scotland. As it turn out, the whole story may be a hoax.

According to an eyewitness onboard, the captain changed out of his uniform, neatly hung it on a hangar, then placed it on the open seat next to him. That seemed odd at the time, as we know that flights rarely go out with open seats in business class and only one seat is reserved for pilot rest. This 757-200 had only 16 seats in business class after all. Nevertheless, a photograph was provided.

Many people noticed (and sadly I did not), however, something peculiar about the photo. The captain’s epaulet featured five stripes. A United captain has four stripes while a first officer has three stripes. No pilot from United Airlines has five stripes.

Everyone is talking about the “sleeping United pilot,” which has been debunked, but why is no one talking about this pilot having FIVE stripes on his uniform?? pic.twitter.com/t8GvAZFem4

— Phil Derner (@PhilDernerJr) September 12, 2018

That leaves one of two options. First, the captain takes a very high view of himself and purchased the epaulets on Amazon in clear violation of United’s uniform policy. Second, the picture is fake or photoshopped. I’m betting on the second option.

CONCLUSION

I’m filing this story in the fake news drawer. If the concerned passenger wants to present an unedited photo from the flight, then maybe the sleeping pilot will be in trouble…but not for sleeping.

> Read More: The Ridiculous “Story” Of The Sleeping United Pilot

image: Amazon

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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4 Comments

  1. JoeMart Reply
    September 13, 2018 at 1:52 pm

    Another Nancy Drew mystery solved.

  2. Lukas Reply
    September 13, 2018 at 10:16 pm

    There is a hangar ON THE PLANE?!?!

    • Kingmaker Reply
      September 14, 2018 at 10:23 am

      And a plane in that hangar. It’s planes and hangars all the way down

  3. AB Reply
    September 14, 2018 at 11:55 am

    Nice catch. But why though? I knew this was a fishy story from day 1 (didn’t notice the stripes until now), but why would someone go through all this trouble to shame someone?

    I don’t get society today

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