A Japan Airlines flight from the United States to Japan was canceled last week, due to the captain’s drunken behavior at the layover hotel, as flagged by View from the Wing.
Japan Airlines 777 captain parties too hard during layover
This incident involves a 49-year-old Japan Airlines captain, who had a layover at Dallas Fort Worth Airport (DFW) last week. Specifically, he landed on the morning of Monday, April 22, 2024, and was supposed to depart again on the morning of Wednesday, April 24, 2024, after a two-day layover. Specifically, he was flying a Boeing 777-300ER, and was supposed to operate JL11/12.
According to police, the captain was drinking alcohol with crew members at a restaurant starting at around 6PM on Monday. Then when he returned to the hotel after dinner, he continued drinking. The hotel reportedly warned him that his drunken behavior was causing a disturbance. At 2AM on Tuesday morning, when things hadn’t improved, the hotel called the police on the captain, as he was still shouting.
The flight on Wednesday ended up being canceled, with the 157 passengers booked on the flight being accommodated on other flights. The airline has apologized to passengers for the inconvenience.
The company decided to cancel the flight, in order to check on the condition of the captain (both mental and physical), and to arrange a replacement crew. The captain told police that he didn’t notice that he was drunk.
![](https://berwickwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Japan-Airlines-Flight-Canceled-Due-To-Drunk-Misbehaving-Captain.jpg)
At least the Japan Airlines captain didn’t fly drunk
If there’s any silver lining to this story, it’s that the captain at least wasn’t trying to show up to work drunk. With Japan Airlines’ policies, pilots can’t drink within 12 hours of a flight. In this case, he was still well over 24 hours before departure. So it’s possible he was just really letting his hair down during the layover, but could’ve operated the plane safely.
Then again, you can’t help but wonder about someone’s judgment when they’re causing such a disturbance from drinking that the police has to be called, and then they claim to not even realize that they were drunk.
One has to wonder what was going on here. Presumably the captain has had hundreds of layovers over the course of his career, so is this level of partying normal for him, or what was the occasion?
![](https://berwickwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Japan-Airlines-Flight-Canceled-Due-To-Drunk-Misbehaving-Captain.jpeg)
Bottom line
A Japan Airlines flight out of Dallas was canceled, after the captain got so rowdy during a layover that the police had to be called. This was on the first night of a two-night layover, so he wasn’t violating restrictions regarding drinking and flying, but rather his behavior just crossed the line. What an awkward reason for a flight cancelation…
What do you make of this Japan Airlines incident?