Vicarious living: it’s hard not to admire the flight attendant who snapped, swore and exited using plane’s emergency chute

On Monday, a JetBlue attendant named Steven Slater snapped on the tarmac of Kennedy International Airport, authorities said.

After a dispute with a passenger who stood to fetch his luggage too soon on a full flight just in from Pittsburgh, Slater, a career flight attendant, had had enough.

He got on the intercom, let loose a string of invective, pulled the lever that activates the emergency-evacuation chute and slid down, making a dramatic exit not only from the plane but, one imagines, also his airline career.

On his way out the door, he paused to grab a beer from the beverage cart. Then he ran to the employee parking lot and drove off, the authorities said.

So much fun here. First, Slater is going to have a hard time convincing anyone that he wasn’t of sound mind. He pretty clearly knew what he was doing, as demonstrated by allegedly yelling into the intercom, “To the fucking asshole that told me to fuck off, it’s been a good 28 years!” That sounds like a resignation letter to us, albeit an awesome one.

Second, serious points for grabbing a beer before making the kind of getaway that isn’t usually seen outside of a Bond movie. Twitter is all over this, with public opinion largely on Slater’s side. As a mascot for the demeaned service class in society, it would be hard to do better than this.

UPDATE: Our favourite Taiwanese re-enactors have put together this animated version of the event.

• Flight attendant snaps, makes dramatic exit [Toronto Star] • Cursing, beer-grabbing flight attendant pops chute, grabs spotlight [CNN] • ‘Pulling a JetBlue’: Flight attendant Steven Slater makes a dramatic exit [National Post]