DALLAS – A Japan Airlines flight that was scheduled to depart Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport enroute to Japan had to be canceled after the captain of the plane reportedly became intoxicated and “engaged in disorderly behavior” at the Dallas-area hotel where the crew members were staying, airline officials said Tuesday.
The unnamed captain flew from Haneda Airport in Tokyo to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on April 22. The captain’s behavior at the hotel was not specified but was described as causing “inconvenience to other guests and hotel staff.”
Officers were dispatched to the scene and the captain received a verbal warning from police at the request of hotel staff, Japan Airlines confirmed, according to CBS News.
Following an assessment of the captain’s behavior, it was determined that the pilot should not be assigned to the return flight from Dallas to Tokyo. The airline said the captain did not having a detectable blood alcohol level at the scheduled departure time for the flight. Nevertheless, it was decided that the aircraft commander should not fly due to a “necessity to confirm the physical and mental condition of our operating crew.”
As a result, an alternate crew had to be dispatched from Japan to Texas for the return flight. Therefore, the flight was canceled due to the “anticipated significant delay.”
Passengers were required to rebook their flight, and were told the cancellation was because of “health issues” among the crew, CBS reported.
“We sincerely apologize to the customers who were involved in this flight cancellation. We are fully aware of the seriousness of this situation,” the airline said, adding that it would “thoroughly implement measures to prevent recurrence” of the incident and “work to restore trust in our airline.”
In an unrelated incident, a veteran Delta Airlines pilot from Georgia was sentenced in March 2024, to 10 months in jail in Scotland after showing up impaired to fly from Edinburgh Airport to New York’s JFK International Airport in June 2023.
