Overview
- Margit Lake, 56, resigned days after the October 17 flight, ending a 26‑year career at United Airlines.
- She drank multiple miniature vodka bottles she had brought onboard, with her solicitor citing grief and isolation as reasons she wanted to "calm down."
- Colleagues alerted ground staff, and paramedics boarded at Heathrow Terminal 2, noted alcohol on her breath and low blood pressure, then took her to hospital before her arrest.
- At Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court she admitted performing an aviation function while intoxicated and was ordered to pay a £1,461 fine, a £584 victim surcharge, and £85 in costs.
- The judge declined to send the case to Crown Court; the offense can carry up to two years in prison, and the incident has been reported alongside other recent crew alcohol cases such as an SAS steward stopped at Heathrow.