A drunken passenger who had previously been named “Architect of the Year” allegedly assaulted a flight attendant and boasted about her wealth after being asked to keep quiet near a sleeping baby, police said.
Simone de Gale, 44, allegedly launched into a profanity-laced tirade aboard a Virgin Airlines flight from Dubai to London in February. The outburst began after flight attendant Sarah Jane Buckland politely asked her not to walk through an aisle where a family and its 9-month-old baby were asleep, according to The Sun.
“I’m an architect and you’re just a f—king air hostess,” de Gale shouted, according to prosecutors at Ealing Magistrates’ Court, who described her as “really aggressive.”
“You’re a f—king dumb air hostess. You need to learn your place,” she continued, prosecutors said.
Officials said de Gale also accused crew members of being “racist,” jabbed Buckland in the neck and pulled at her cardigan.
“We were all trying to defuse this lady,” Buckland told the court, saying the confrontation left her shaken.
The crew contacted police, who met the aircraft after it landed at Heathrow Airport.
Officers said de Gale stumbled as she left the plane, slurred her words and smelled strongly of alcohol.
Video of her arrest, obtained by The Sun, shows de Gale insisting to police that she had never “touched anyone or anything.”
Even after officers told her she could be held for up to 24 hours on suspicion of strangulation, assault and being drunk on an aircraft, she repeated: “I didn’t touch anyone.”
De Gale was convicted Thursday on four charges, including threatening, abusive or insulting behavior toward a flight crew member, intoxication on an aircraft and assault, after failing to attend her court hearing.
Officials said she remains at large.
Fellow passenger Graham Cox told the court that de Gale repeatedly boasted about earning far more money than the cabin crew while running her own architecture firm.
“She said she earns significantly more money than they did,” Cox testified, describing her conduct as “very loud, boisterous, aggressive.”
Cox also said de Gale claimed the flight attendants were “only there to serve drinks and food.”
De Gale is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects and serves as chief executive officer of Simone de Gale Architects, a Dubai-based firm in the United Arab Emirates.
The firm was listed in Spear’s 500 Index as Best Architects for High Net Worth Individuals.
According to her website, she was named “Architect of the Year” by the Women in Construction Awards UK.
