Passenger apologizes for asking his Southwest pilot if he was drunk before a flight: 'I was just trying to be funny'

• A 45-second TikTok video shows a passenger jokingly asking a Southwest Airlines pilot if he'd been drinking.
• The pilot was visibly upset and told the passenger that he shouldn't joke about crews flying drunk.

Don't joke about airline pilots and alcohol.

On Thursday, TikTok user Jamie DeGeorge posted a now-deleted video of him asking a Southwest Airlines pilot if he'd been drinking before his flight.

The visibly upset pilot did not find the remarks funny, pushing back on the comments. DeGeorge responded with, "Oh my god, you ever heard of a joke? I'm a comedian."

The 45-second video then shows the pilot pulling DeGeorge aside and explaining to him why even joking about a pilot drinking can create problems.

"You don't do that," he started. "And the reason being you don't do it is because that gentleman there and anyone else who's around now doubts what I do for a living."

DeGeorge responded with, "I understand, I didn't mean to offend you." After the pilot admonished him, he said: "Wow, see what I mean about life."

DeGeorge has since deleted the viral video, telling Insider that he has received immense backlash from people — mostly airline pilots — calling him things like "stupid" and "small-minded" via social media.

Insider viewed and verified the messages sent to DeGeorge.

He said his flight was delayed and he wanted to make light of the stressful situation.

"I was just trying to be funny," he told Insider. "I'm not in the aviation industry, I had no clue how serious of a question it was, so I apologized immediately — and, if I knew then what I know now, I would not have made the joke."

He also addressed his profession, telling Insider that he's actually not a comedian, but rather a "heavyweight boxer and entertainer." He said he told the pilot he was a comedian because he didn't want to be booted off the flight.

In response to the event, Southwest told Insider that it stands by its pilot's response to DeGeorge.

"As an airline responsible for the wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of people every day, we take safety very seriously, and our crewmember's response aligns with that tenet," Southwest said in an email statement.

"We are accountable for the comfort and confidence of every passenger that boards our aircraft and while we always strive for an environment of mutual respect, we support our pilot's assertion that an accusation of compromised safety is not a joking matter," the carrier continued.

Why you shouldn't joke about pilots flying intoxicated

Making comments about pilots flying under the influence — even jokingly — is extremely serious in the airline industry.

Carriers will actually pull pilots from duty if there is any concern about drinking from passengers, flight attendants, or any other person — and they'll replace the crew member or delay the flight until a test can be conducted.

"Accusing a pilot of drinking before a flight is an incredibly serious charge — akin to joking about a bomb on the plane," Scott Keyes, CEO of airfare website Going, told USA Today on Friday.

The Federal Aviation Administration has strict protocols in place regarding alcohol and on-duty pilots, including a maximum 0.04% alcohol limit via blood or breathing test and a required eight-hour window between drinking and flying.

In the industry, it's common to hear "eight hours from bottle to throttle" in reference to the law, though some carriers have stricter policies.

Despite the rarity of airline pilots flying intoxicated, there have been instances in recent years of aviators showing up to the cockpit with alcohol in their system.

In 2019, two United Airlines pilots were arrested in Scotland after failing a breathalyzer test before their duty flight to New York. The same year, a Delta Air Lines pilot was arrested under suspicion of being drunk before his flight out of Minneapolis.

And, more recently, a United pilot had his license suspended in July after showing up to his transatlantic flight with a blood-alcohol level of 0.132% — that's six times the 0.02% legal limit in Europe and three times the 0.04% limit in the US.

The French government has since handed the pilot a fine and a six-month suspended prison sentence.