Steven Slater JetBlue Flight Attendant Employment

By: Kara Gilmour
Staff Writer
Published: Sep 5, 2010

Steven Slater JetBlue flight attendant no longer has employment with the airline.

Steven Slater JetBlue flight attendant employment. JetBlue flight attendant Steve Slater is no longer employed by the airline. The air carrier delinced to elaborate how Slater and JetBlue parted ways.

Slater, the flight attendant whose fame took off after a dramatic exit down an emergency shut, is no longer working for JetBlue. The separation occurred last week, but a spokeswoman declined to elaborate the cause. Additional information is unknown.

The flight attendant became a hero to some after the August incident. Authorities said he grabbed some beer and triggered an inflatable emergency chute from a plane at a JFK Airport terminal in New York. As of Sunday, Slater had amassed more than 210,000 "fans" on a public Facebook page.

However, the drama on the plane may have started before takeoff. "A number of passengers were competing for overhead carry-on luggage areas," Howard Turman, Slater's attorney, said in a statement. "With great difficulty, they were shoving the bags around, attempting to get it in. Steven came over to assist and either the bag or the overhead (bin door) hit him in the head and at that point he suffered an injury."

Turman has also said a woman "started cursing and -- based on the information -- slammed the overhead luggage bin on his head." After various exchanges with the woman and a crew member, some passengers said, he grabbed some beer from the beverage cart before deploying the emergency slide and leaving.

JetBlue removed Slater from duty following the incident and launched an internal investigation. Turman has sharply denied a passenger's assertion that the flight attendant instigated the confrontation. The flighit attendant has pleaded not guilty to charges of reckless endangerment and criminal mischief -- both felonies -- and criminal trespass. If convicted, he could face a maximum of seven years in prison.