JetBlue: Steven Slater's Slide Was for Good

(AP)  Sometimes there's no going back.

JetBlue Airways says that there will be no second exits for famed flight attendant Steven Slater - who captured the nation's imagination with his profanity-laced loudspeaker tirade and jump down a plane's emergency chute, beer in hand.

Spokeswoman Jenny Dervin said Saturday that Slater is no longer employed by the airline. She said the airline won't release further details out of respect for Slater's privacy.

Slater's lawyer had said he loved flying and wanted to return to work, and Slater's folk-hero status among tens of thousands of online fans had led some of them to urge the airline to keep him on.

The airline said at the time of the incident last month that Slater was suspended pending an investigation. It told employees in a memo that press coverage was not taking into account how much harm can be caused by emergency slides, which are deployed with a potentially deadly amount of force.

The former flight attendant still has to navigate the criminal justice system. He's been charged with criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and trespassing; his lawyer has said a passenger's "lack of civility" prompted his behavior.

Despite Slater's online popularity, some passengers came forward to criticize him as brusque and cranky throughout the 90-minute trip from Pittsburgh to New York. One passenger portrayed Slater as the instigator, saying he cursed without provocation at a woman who had asked about her bag.

His employment status was first reported by the NBC New York website.

More Flight Attendant Coverage

JetBlue Memo Questions Flight Attendant's Story
Flight Attendant's Grand Exit: A Dream for Some
Steven Slater's Story Continuing to Unravel?
Steven Slater Wants JetBlue Job Back
Slater's Story Discredited by JetBlue Fliers
JetBlue Flight Attendant: Hero or Heel?
JetBlue Episode Continues to Resonate
JetBlue Plays Coy about Flight Attendant Fiasco
Steven Slater Makes Bail after JetBlue Meltdown
JetBlue Flight Attendant Who Bolted Gets Bail
Angry JetBlue Attendant Exits Plane on Slide

[ffoulkes-2009]

He deserved to be fired.

[HellUpInHarlem]

HE QUIT!!! Why should he have the option to return to his job? Jet Blue did the right thing.

[servorum]

Now he can do ads for Effen Vodka.

[longtree-2009]

the dufus did it to himself, witnessed by many. he toasted himself. who would want to fly with an attendant with such a short fuse? thankfully he didn't open the fuselage hatch while at 30K feet in flight. dufus.

[cbsblogger]

Ok the guy was a jerk. But I don't understand why he was charged with a felony? Where are the charges against the Wall Street thieves who walk free with impudence even though they have contributed to bankrupting our nation? The CEOS of these banks should be imprisoned for life for the harm they caused. Instead they focus on the little guy.

Here is a good example of the police state that is being created for average people. Cops at a PA casino arrest a guy for leaving his 12 year old grandson alone in a car for 30 minutes.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38988419/

[Past80]

I feel sorry for people like you who have such a limited view of things that you can't reply to an article and stay on subject. Are you really that dumb?

[BaselessCritique]

You eat one foot. All the sudden, everyone thinks your a canibal.

[tsigili]

He burned his bridges, with his own actions, and that is his own fault, and no one else.

[bradkt1]

You don't do what he did and expect to keep your job with any employer whose business depends on serving the public. Some members of the public might be a royal pain in the butt, but when you work with the public, you don't curse them out because you got frustrated...you smile and try to be courteous as best as you can.

When you work for an airline, you know better than to deploy an emergency slide on a purely personal, non-emergency related whim. That's a major fine from the FAA for your employer...

...and all just becuase you wanted to be a drama queen?

Good riddance!

[thechooch1]

This idiot could have killed a ground crew member with his juvenile actions. He should get jail time for his wanton destruction of property and endangering innocent people.