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Friday, December 9, 2011

Flight Attendant union fires back: Baldwin should be on NO-FLY list

Alec Baldwin was kicked off a flight Tuesday after being 'extremely rude to the crew,' said American Airlines.

American Airlines flight attendants want the carrier to strike back at angry actor Alec Baldwin by removing the star’s hit NBC show “30 Rock” from all in-flight entertainment.

The peeved flight attendants, backed by their union, also want Baldwin’s bold-faced name to be added to the carrier’s no-fly list for his door-slamming, profanity-laced temper tantrum Tuesday.

“We’re very upset. He was very malicious and slanderous toward crew members in his comments,” American flight attendant Lonny Glover, the safety and security spokesman for the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, told the Daily News Thursday.

The union will not be asking the feds to place Baldwin’s name alongside those of suspected evildoers on the federal no-fly list — but they want the Federal Aviation Administration to slap him with a fine.

Glover said the union would drop its demands if Baldwin — who has vowed to never again fly American Airlines — makes a public apology to the crew for the tirade that got him booted off of a flight.

“Alec sympathizes with the many hardworking, dedicated employees of American Airlines and elsewhere who are facing cuts to pensions and pay and difficult working conditions,” a friend of Baldwin’s told The News.

The friend reiterated Baldwin’s previous claim that he was singled out and picked on by a flight attendant the actor described as “a 1950s gym teacher.”

Glover said Baldwin’s colorful characterization of the airline worker was laughable.

“The flight attendant is one of the nicest, sweetest ladies,” Glover said, noting that Baldwin was using his smartphone against cabin rules.

“She told him no less than three times he needed to put away his device.”

“He broke federal aviation regulations that are in place for a reason,” Glover added.

Glover also said that an FAA safety inspector has already requested reports from crew members on the Los Angeles-to-New York flight.

“We’ve been in discussions with our FAA safety inspectors and will encourage the airline to pursue this,” he said.

The FAA can go after passengers for civil penalties exceeding $20,000, multiple sources said. But an FAA spokesman said Thursday that American had not filed a formal complaint.

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