Hawaii
Should Flight Attendants Be Allowed Do This In First Class On Hawaii Flights?
For those of us who fly to and from Hawaii regularly, the journey is often still a celebration in the sky, despite all the challenges of modern-day air travel. But on a recent First Class flight, what we witnessed raised serious questions about airline policies and safety: a visibly inebriated flight attendant being served multiple drinks while “deadheading.”
The person was not in uniform but was part of the crew. They were seated up front and, throughout the flight, had many conversations with other crew members who came to talk story with them. We noticed they were feeling the alcohol while continuing to receive more from the working crew—who appeared entirely unfazed.
This wasn’t the first time we’d encountered this, and while not frequent, each time—to our recollection—it happened on the same airline over a couple of decades’ time. That led us to take note when others started writing about this and to dig into the rules behind a situation that may surprise many Hawaii travelers.
Airline fine print behind flight attendant drinking.
In airline terms, “deadheading” refers to crew members flying as passengers, often to reposition for a future assignment. They aren’t working the flight, are typically not wearing an airline uniform, but are still technically considered to be on duty.
One major U.S. carrier with a big focus on Hawaii flights, United Airlines, permits these off-duty flight attendants to drink onboard under specific conditions: they must be out of uniform, not scheduled to work another flight that day, and only drink after the aircraft door is closed. Most other airlines have phased it out due to concerns about safety and public perception.
In other words, this isn’t a policy loophole—it’s deliberate. And now, it’s getting media attention.
What makes Hawaii flights different?
Hawaii flights are longer than most domestic flights and are unquestionably more isolated, with limited diversion options and stricter overwater safety protocols. Airlines consider every crew member onboard, whether working or not, part of the larger safety equation.
If something goes wrong over the Pacific, no matter the nature, having a visibly impaired crew member onboard—regardless of whether they’re scheduled to work—could be a concern. These are not short hops where help is always nearby. Preparedness becomes a greater issue when passengers are up to six hours from the mainland.
That’s why this particular policy might feel different when applied to Hawaii routes. It’s not just about perception—it’s about readiness when needed most.
Why this matters now.
Recent headlines about flight attendants and alcohol use—such as failed breathalyzer tests and crew removals—highlight the growing scrutiny on airline safety and conduct. Policies like this can seem increasingly outdated in an era of heightened awareness.
The rationale for allowing drinking may appear more reasonable on Hawaii flights, where flight time is long and reassignments are unlikely. However, the flip side is that the consequences of an impaired crew member could be more serious, especially if an issue arises with no one else available to step in.
A bigger debate over alcohol, behavior, and trust in the skies.
Alcohol and air travel have long sparked debate among our readers. In a recent Beat of Hawaii article, dozens of comments poured in with frustration, personal observations, and concrete suggestions.
One commenter, JA, pointed out that most passengers don’t realize it’s illegal to fly while intoxicated and proposed visible signage to deter it. Meanwhile, others advocated for simple, enforceable solutions—like limiting onboard alcohol or reviving face-to-face check-ins to catch visibly impaired travelers.
Mike C, proposed tracking drinks by boarding pass and time stamp to limit pre-flight alcohol consumption. At the same time, Don K pushed back against impractical solutions, saying, “Breathalyzers before boarding? Maybe the single dumbest thing I’ve read in a while.”
A shared concern unites all these comments: passengers want safe, predictable flights—and they’re increasingly skeptical about anything that could compromise that. So when passengers see flight attendants, even off-duty ones, being served alcohol, the reaction may be as much about trust as it is airline policy.
What travelers have told us.
After sharing our experience, we heard from other travelers who’d seen similar behavior. One visitor told us, “I didn’t realize they were crew until they started talking about work mid-flight. They were on their third glass of wine. It just felt wrong.”
Another BOH reader told us, “If I showed up tipsy to my job, I’d be fired. Why should someone being paid to fly be drinking at all?”
Others pushed back. “They’re done for the day. If they’re off the clock and following the rules, they should be allowed to enjoy the flight like anyone else.”
This split perspective makes the issue so compelling—and why we decided to share it.
Airline loophole or a smart perk?
Supporters of the policy say it’s a matter of fairness. A deadheading flight attendant, out of uniform and done with work for that day, is still a passenger. Why shouldn’t they be treated like one in all regards?
Critics argue that air travel’s unpredictability—from medical emergencies to diversions or unexpected staffing needs—makes any level of impairment unacceptable. On Hawaii routes, where flights are longer and assistance options are limited, the risks can be amplified.
As a passenger, would you be comfortable knowing a potentially inebriated crew member is onboard and might be asked to assist in an emergency?
A quiet airline policy, now being exposed.
This policy has existed quietly for some time. Honestly, we didn’t know about it ourselves, and we suspect most passengers don’t either. With renewed attention this week, it’s suddenly under a brighter spotlight.
In our case, what was most concerning wasn’t just the drinking—it was how intoxicated the crew member became, and how casually the working staff continued to serve them. It suggested to us that this wasn’t unusual.
That leaves us wondering: How common is this, and how do travelers feel about it—especially on long, remote flights like those to and from Hawaii?
What do you think?
Have you seen this happen on your Hawaii flight? Should off-duty crew be treated like passengers, or held to a higher standard?
As passengers, we trust that everyone onboard—crew included—is prepared for the unexpected. Policies like this challenge that trust and raise an important question: where should the line be drawn, especially on high-stakes routes like Hawaii?
We’d love to hear your thoughts. Let us know in the comments.
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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Former Miss China turned stand-up comedian Jiaoying Summers is on her way to Hawaii to perform two shows at the Blue Note Hawaii.
The shows are part of her international tour ‘Jiaoying: What Specie Are You?,’ which took her across Asia and Australia.
Tickets to her Blue Note shows are available for purchase here.
Summers is best known for her dark humor and deprecating jokes about herself and her family.
The comedian said performing is therapeutic, reflecting on her upbringing in China during the one-child policy era.
She also lives with bipolar disorder.
According to Summers, it took years to build the confidence to switch from acting to comedy.
“I struggled with trying to be likable, but I realized I’m not likable,” said Summers. “I just have to be honest, raw and specific about what affects me, and that made me find my voice, not to try to please anyone.
“The ‘stage high’ helps me feel better about myself,” she added. “I let all of the things I’m ashamed of out.”
Summers said one of her motivations for performing is providing a voice for others.
“I want my voice to be so big that I would be able to speak for people who have no voice,” she said. “Empowerment is a big thing for me.”
In 2023, Summers became the first Chinese comedian to headline and sell out the iconic Apollo Theatre in New York.
Her performances regularly go viral, garnering more than 1 billion views and over 4 million followers.
Summers credits her success to blending her finance background with her artistic endeavors.
“Whenever someone books me in a club, I exhaust every resource to make sure it’s a sold-out show for a good performance,” Summers said. “I just want to make whoever books me money.”
Summers said she also wants to help other comedians become successful.
“I have so many tips I could give to comedians who want to see how to get their numbers up on social media, promote a show, and have good relationships at a club because those are business skills as artists,” she said.
Summers is also set to debut her one-hour comedy special on Hulu on Saturday, Nov. 8.
Her performances at the Blue Note are scheduled for Friday, Dec. 5, at 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Summers’ second special may be on its way after filming began last month in Seattle.
“That’s my origin story. I’ll talk about my life, all the funny, all the battles I won, and all the times I failed and got back up,” she said.
Copyright 2025 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
Hawaii
Raw Sewage Sneaking Into West Hawaii’s Coastal Waters Threatens Coral Reefs and Public Health, Scientists Find – Inside Climate News
For generations, West Hawaii’s picturesque coastlines have been a gathering place for fishing, swimming and ceremony. But those sacred waters are also gathering something else.
Using airborne mapping, field sampling and advanced statistical analysis, researchers at Arizona State University’s Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science in Hawaii revealed that nearly half of West Hawaii’s coastline is being quietly contaminated with raw sewage.
As a result, coral reefs in bays like Hōnaunau are struggling to flourish, weakening ecosystems that people rely on for food, and harming their ability to protect coastline communities from erosion and rising sea levels. The sewage-contaminated ocean water not only threatens the environment but also exposes swimmers to E. coli, salmonella and other pathogens or parasites that sicken people.
The researchers collected water samples from 47 shoreline sites in the South Kohala, North Kona and South Kona regions. Of those sites, 42 percent had elevated levels of a bacteria that indicates sewage contamination, and the levels were high enough in nearly a quarter of the sites to threaten both the environment and human health, their study found.
“The most alarming thing was how consistently we found contamination at popular swimming sites, places where families take their kids,” said Kelly Hondula, associate research scientist at the Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science and lead author of the study. “Some of these sites regularly test above public-health thresholds, meaning swimming there poses a higher risk of disease.”
Cesspools and leaky septic tanks are a key reason for the water contamination, the researchers say.
Hawaii banned the creation of new cesspools in 2016, the last U.S. state to do so. But
more than 88,000 cesspools, which Hawaii’s Department of Health describes as “little more than holes in the ground,” still operate in the state. Each day, homes and businesses using this inexpensive but ineffective form of waste management discharge more than 53 million gallons of untreated sewage.
Andrea Kealoha, an assistant professor of marine biology and geochemistry at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, who wasn’t involved with the new study, notes that the use of injection wells in the state also contributes to sewage contamination in water.
“They take the wastewater, all of the wastewater, to facilities in a community, they treat that water, but they don’t really remove the nutrients or the other pollutants,” she said.
What makes the West Hawaii region so vulnerable to coastline contamination is a phenomenon known as submarine groundwater discharge. West Hawaii is built upon the young lava flows of the Hualālai and Mauna Loa volcanoes. The hardened lava, once fluid, has dried up and is filled with cracks, tubes and voids. When homes, businesses and wastewater management plants discharge wastewater into the ground from cesspools, septic tanks or injection wells, it quickly travels through the lava tubes and fractures, emerging under the coast’s tideline.
That process disperses the substances carried along with the waste. Among them is nitrogen, a nutrient that helps plants grow but in higher concentrations can harm marine ecosystems. In such conditions, it’s harder for coral reefs to reproduce and recover after incidents like bleaching.
“The nitrogen that leaks out into the ocean from groundwater contamination and into the reef system stimulates the growth of algae, the kind of algae that grows on the sea floor, like a weed. And that algae overtakes the coral,” said Greg Asner, director of Arizona State University’s Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science and senior author of the study.
When that algae dies and decomposes on the coastline floor, it consumes oxygen in the water. Too much of that leaves fish and invertebrates unable to survive.
“If we continue on the pathway of not taking action, not improving water quality, we’re going to see more ecosystem loss,” said Jasmine Fournier, executive director of the Ocean Sewage Alliance, which aims to reduce the waste contamination problem. “The things we expect when we go into the water, we might not be seeing as much anymore. We’ll see more algal blooms, more fish kills, fishermen who can no longer maintain their livelihoods because the fish stocks are gone.”
A 2017 law requires all cesspools to be converted to more effective waste management by 2050, but Kealoha said ASU’s findings should prompt more action.
“We have such a hard time as local communities to combat the whole greater climate issue—which comes with ocean warming and ocean acidification—but we do have power to combat these local stressors,” she said.
About This Story
Perhaps you noticed: This story, like all the news we publish, is free to read. That’s because Inside Climate News is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We do not charge a subscription fee, lock our news behind a paywall, or clutter our website with ads. We make our news on climate and the environment freely available to you and anyone who wants it.
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Two of us launched ICN in 2007. Six years later we earned a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, and now we run the oldest and largest dedicated climate newsroom in the nation. We tell the story in all its complexity. We hold polluters accountable. We expose environmental injustice. We debunk misinformation. We scrutinize solutions and inspire action.
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Jaylan Sims
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Jaylan Sims is a senior at Vanderbilt University, majoring in communication of science & technology and communication studies. An Appalachian native, Sims covers climate activism, agriculture and climate research out of Nashville. Previously, Sims covered the environment for The Nashville Banner, Minnesota Public Radio and outlets across Minnesota. Sims hosted The Vanderbilt Hustler’s VU History Podcast, earning the publication its first national audio-journalism award.
Jack Antonoff, Margaret Qualley
Sneak a Sexy Kiss on Romantic Hawaii Getaway
Published
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Updated
BACKGRID
Two years in and still going strong … Jack Antonoff and Margaret Qualley had quite the make-out sesh off the sun-kissed coast of Hawaii Monday.
Check out the pics … Taylor Swift‘s frequent collaborator took a much-needed break with his wife, taking a dip in the ocean during a glorious tropical getaway.
“The Substance” actress wore a teenie-tiny red bikini and soaked up the sun on a longboard, while Jack gallantly paddle-boarded over to her. The two eventually snuck a kiss, caught by photographers on shore.
The husband and wife said “I do” in 2023 in front of a star-studded crowd composed of Tay-Tay, Lana Del Rey, Channing Tatum, Zoe Kravitz, Cara Delevingne, and, of course, Margaret’s mom, Andi MacDowell, to name a few.
Lookin’ good, you two … Aloha!
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