A passenger publicly shamed a United Airlines flight attendant for eating during boarding, calling her a “warthog” and telling her to go on Ozempic. Even if you think crew members should not eat in view of passengers, the assumptions and cruelty here are staggering.

Passenger Publicly Shames United Flight Attendant For Eating During Boarding

A United Airlines flight attendant has become the latest airline employee to be publicly mocked online after a passenger filmed her eating a takeaway meal onboard and posted the video to social media.

The passenger, identified as Chicago-based communications consultant Steve Crescenzo, apparently objected to the uniformed flight attendant eating while seated in a passenger seat during boarding on a flight to United’s Washington Dulles hub.

His language was not exactly restrained.

He called her a “warthog,” mocked the food as “slop,” referred to her meal as a “Pig Trough,” and suggested she “go on Ozempic.” He also complained that passengers were trying to board, stow their belongings, and were already in a bad mood.

That is quite a lot to infer from a crew member eating a meal!

Maybe She Was Working, Maybe She Was Deadheading

Let’s start with the obvious point: I do not know the full context.

If this flight attendant was actively working the flight, sitting in a passenger seat during boarding and eating a meal would not be ideal (or permitted). Flight attendants are there for safety, boarding support, and customer interaction. There are professionalism issues involved, and I understand why a passenger might notice it…

But that is a very big if.

She may have been off-duty, deadheading, or traveling as a passenger between assignments. She may have had a very short connection and she may not have eaten all day and was heading into another duty period with no realistic opportunity to grab food later.

In other words, the assumptions here over-the-top.

A uniform does not automatically mean a crew member is working your flight. Deadheading crew members often travel in uniform. They may sit in passenger seats. They may have bags. They may look like they are “on,” even when they are not part of the operating crew.

That distinction matters.

The Language Was The Problem

It’s not nice to call someone a pig. Calling someone something online that you would not say to their face is usually a good sign you should not say it at all.

While I am sure I have written things over the years that I would word differently today, I’m not a fan of the unhinged language of this era in USA (and this loser is a huge anti-Trumper if you check his social media, so isn’t a backhanded dig at Trump alone).

If this passenger wanted to make a point, he could have done so without cruelty. He could have written that he found it unprofessional for a uniformed crew member to eat a strong-smelling meal during boarding or asked whether United permits working crew to eat in passenger seats during boarding. If it bothered him so much, he could have sent the video to United with a concise note and asked for clarification.

Instead, he chose public humiliation.

Thus, the issue is no longer merely whether the flight attendant should have been eating there. Instead, the issue becomes why a grown adult thought it was acceptable to photograph or film a woman, ridicule her body, mock her food, and broadcast it for sport.

He says it is for accountability. No, it is bullying…and he’s not so slim himself.

He’s Still Digging In!

While Crescenzo has deleted his original post, he has posted an update that “apologizes” (a Latin word meaning to defend that we serially misuse in the English language) for those who were offended (i.e. no remote at all).

Well, I certainly want to apologize to anyone I offended with my post about the woman eating on the plane yesterday! I had no idea the passion it would cause!

For years on Facebook, I have vented about things that irritate me while traveling . . . which is just about everything.
I am not as funny as Larry David, but I get irritated as easily.

But making fun of someone eating, even if it WAS during the boarding process and not while we were in the air, with our trays down, was rude.

One has to be more more careful these days. I will save my venting for the violent seat recliners, the gas passers, the toenail clippers, the people who stand in my personal space the minute the plane lands, the people who play their music without headphones, and the people who talk so loudly on their cell phones that everyone on the plane can hear them.

Eating is off limits. Sorry about that.

For the record, I didn’t know she was a flight attendant!! That’s what most people seem to be upset about!
But she was sitting in a regular aisle seat and didn’t have her jacket on!

Too little, too late buddy. Some are trying to cancel him, which also may go too far, but I hope he learned something from this.

CONCLUSION

A passenger filmed a United Airlines flight attendant eating during boarding and posted the video online, calling her a “warthog” and telling her to go on Ozempic.

Maybe United should remind working crew members not to eat in passenger seats during active boarding. But we do not know whether this flight attendant was working, deadheading, or simply trying to eat during a narrow window between assignments.

What we do know is that the passenger’s language was cruel and wildly unnecessary.

If something bothers you onboard, document it if you must. Send it to the airline if you think it matters. But publicly mocking someone’s body, food, and dignity over something like this is a very ugly look.

What do you think about this incident?

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