Japan Airlines flight delayed after cabin attendant tests positive for alcohol

Japan Airlines (JAL) has banned cabin crew from drinking alcohol before return trips, after a staff member tested positive for alcohol and delayed take-off by 40 minutes. 

According to Japanese aviation media Avitation Wire, JAL apologised for the delay of flight JL252 from Hiroshima to Tokyo Haneda on 23 May due to cabin crew drinking problems.

Some 186 passengers were on the plane which was all set to depart Hiroshima Airport for Tokyo’s Haneda airport at 7.30am on 23 April 2026.

However, the flight was delayed until 8.22am, after a female crew member was found to have drunk more alcohol than permitted by company regulations the night before.

In the wake of the event, JAL has prohibited its flight attendants from drinking alcohol during their stay between return flights.

Over the limit

The airline’s rules already prohibit drinking within 12 hours before duty, and these had been violated by the attendant, who drank with a colleague at a hotel lounge the day before.

While the attendant tested positive for alcohol in a self-check, she did not submit the result, and proceeded to travel to the airport. However, upon arrival, she tested positive once again at the airport office. 

As a consequence, JAL barred her from boarding the plane, and urgently deployed alternative staff. 

This meant that the flight departed 42 minutes behind schedule.

Alcohol-related incidents

The incident follows a spate of booze-based scandals over the past few years. In 2025, an international flight captain drank excessively before his return flight, causing an 18-hour delay for hundreds of passengers.

And in 2024, a captain and co-pilot were also found to have tried to conceal excessive drinking before a flight from Melbourne, Australia, to Narita, Japan. The transport ministry rapped the carrier with a business improvement notice in response.

At the time, the airline said that though “the flight departed after confirming that the cockpit crew’s blood alcohol level was 0.00mg/l, it was noted that the crew had consumed alcohol exceeding the limit set for 12 hours before the start of flight duty, and inappropriate behaviour by the crew was observed.” 

But it’s not the only airline that’s been caught in alcohol-related controversies. In 2022, a Ryanair steward was caught ‘necking’ a small bottle of wine and whisky while the flight was in the air.

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