Japan Airlines just can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to employees and their alcohol consumption. Ordinarily it’s the pilots who get in trouble, but here’s a case where a senior flight attendant got in trouble, and it’ll have major implications for all flight attendants.
Japan Airlines flight delayed over intoxicated flight attendant
Japan Airlines is facing public scrutiny and is having to apologize over an incident that happened on Saturday, May 23, 2026, impacting flight JL252 from Hiroshima (HIJ) to Tokyo (HND).
As reported by Aviation Wire and flagged by PYOK, two flight attendants onboard the flight were found to be above the legal alcohol limit, meaning replacement flight attendants had to be brought in, causing a delay of over 30 minutes. The flight was initially supposed to depart at 7:40AM and arrive at 9AM, while it ended up taking off at 8:32AM and landing at 9:31AM, a little over 30 minutes behind schedule.
The incident involves a senior flight attendant in her 50s, who had been at the company since 1992, as well as a lead cabin attendant in her 30s, who had been at the company since 2019 (the senior flight attendants is essentially the purser, while the lead cabin attendant is in charge of one specific cabin).
The two knew each other from the past, and were looking forward to catching up during their layover. At around 5:30PM local time, the two began drinking in the lounge of the hotel. The restriction was that they had to stop drinking by 6:40PM, 12 hours before they were required to report for duty.
However, they ended up pouring their last glass of wine at 7:15PM, and returned to their rooms at 9:25PM. In total, the senior flight attendant consumed two 300ml beers and two 125ml glasses of white wine. The two claimed that while they knew the carrier’s policies on drinking, they got carried away in conversation, and lost track of time.
Alcohol testing in Japan is very stringent for crews, and before the flight, there are typically two rounds of testing — there’s pre-work testing (done at home or in the hotel) and then pre-flight testing (conducted when the crew meets, prior to the flight). Interestingly, the company doesn’t automatically know the results of the pre-work testing, but they do automatically get the pre-flight testing results.
The less senior of the two flight attendants reportedly called in sick, claiming she was feeling unwell, likely realizing she was above the limit. For the more senior flight attendant:
- At 5:45AM she took her pre-work test, and had a reading of 0.23 milligrams of alcohol per liter of breath
- She didn’t report this to the company, but stalled for time, hoping that by the time her pre-work test happened, she’d be below the limit
- In the hotel lobby, the other crew members noticed that the senior flight attendant hadn’t yet undergone her pre-flight test, and urged her to do so; however, she boarded the bus, and said she’d do so when she gets there
- When the test was performed at the airport, she was found to have a reading of 0.11 milligrams of alcohol per liter of breath; a re-test was conducted, and the reading remained between 0.10 and 0.13 milligrams
Japan Airlines bans alcohol consumption on layovers
While airline crews being over the legal limit of alcohol is taken seriously around the globe, the optics surrounding this are especially serious in Japan, given the culture, plus the history of this issue. Japan Airlines has had more than its fair share of intoxicated pilots, so the airline has had to take drastic action (including the CEO taking a pay cut over such incidents).
Now flight attendants are facing similar punishment. Following this latest alcohol related incident, Japan Airlines is prohibiting all flight attendants from drinking alcohol on layovers. This applies both domestically and internationally, and even more than 12 hours before the report time.
This is obviously an extreme solution, though I suppose the idea is that if you don’t allow it at all, then maybe this “slippery slope” of drinking in the hours leading up to the deadline will be less of an issue.
Just to give you a sense of how seriously this is being taken, this incident happened on the 23rd, and the airline put out a detailed announcement with all of its findings and actions by the 27th. And it even had to apologize for the timeline, that this took so long. As the company’s safety manager explained, “ideally, we would have wanted to inform you earlier yesterday, but it was delayed by a day.”
Bottom line
Japan Airlines is finding itself in an alcohol scandal yet again, this time involving flight attendants who “turned up” a little too much on a Hiroshima layover. The most senior flight attendant on the flight, who had been at the airline for nearly 35 years, had four drinks the night before the flight, including within 12 hours of when she was supposed to report for work.
Rather than calling in sick, she ultimately failed multiple breathalyzers, causing a flight to be delayed, so they could find new crew members. As you’d expect, this is being taken very seriously, and the result is that no flight attendants can drink on layovers anymore.
What do you make of Japan Airlines’ new alcohol policy for flight attendants?
