Self-Important Morons Fined For Abusing British Airways Crew

Filed Under: British Airways

Three people have just been fined for their behavior on a British Airways flight earlier this year, as reported by The Daily Mail. I don’t even want to call them “reality stars” because that’s probably giving them too much credit, but my gosh these people sound insufferable.

Awful behavior on a British Airways flight

On February 7, 2021, three people were traveling on a British Airways flight from Miami to London. They were returning from the Turks & Caicos, where they had filmed the second season of Netflix’s “Too Hot To Handle” show, which is a dating show of sorts (I’ll admit that I watched the first season — it was so bad that it was almost good).

The three people in question are 29-year-old Matthew Mahwinney, 28-year-old Harry Johnson (lol, given the context of this), and 23-year-old Beaux Greenslade. For what it’s worth, we’re apparently supposed to care who Mahwinney is, because his mother served as Attorney General in the UK between 2007 and 2010, and therefore he thinks that entitles him to act however he’d like.

So, what exactly happened? The trio had apparently been downing margaritas before their flight, and during the flight Johnson and Greenslade were “kissing and behaving intimately.”  and it looked like they were about to take it to the next level. They were also refusing to wear their face masks.

Cabin crew asked them to tone down their behavior, and also made the decision to stop serving them alcohol, which is where the behavior allegedly got really bad:

  • Mahwinney told one of the flight attendants “go and f****** look up who my mum is – Baroness Scotland, I’m a gold card holder – go and get me a drink”
  • Mahwinney received a written warning from the captain, and threw it across the cabin
  • Mahwinney climbed into the aisle and performed press-ups while the seatbelt sign was on
  • Greenslade told the flight attendant “take my f***** tray away, don’t you know I’m a f***** secretary, I will take your job away from you”
  • When a passenger asked Greenslade to stop abusing the crew, she replied “shut up you f****** c***”
  • Greenslade said “f*** these people and f*** the captain”
  • Greenslade told the flight attendants “look at me when I am talking to you,” and told everyone else how rude she thought the crew was
  • When Greenslade was told that the police would be meeting the flight, she replied “call the police, they won’t f****** do anything”
  • Johnson called the flight attendant a “b****” when he received a letter saying he wouldn’t be served any more alcohol

Each person ordered to pay £2,835

The trio were charged with failing to obey lawful commands on a plane, and using threatening, abusive, and insulting words.

Mahwinney apologized in a letter to the court, saying he was “deeply ashamed” of his behavior:


It’s also claimed that he had been prescribed anti-anxiety medication and sleeping pills before taking part in the show, which could have impacted his behavior.

The attorney representing Johnson and Greenslade stated the following:

‘This was the opportunity of a lifetime, and you are quite right when you say that they had this sense of entitlement that they probably never had before as a result of the TV programme.

It was youth, naivety and stupidity – they’ve involved themselves (in the row) and made it much worse by escalating it into a group situation. They are aware that things are not going to be easy in relation to the publicity. This behaviour on any view is wholly out of character, and in my submission that should be born in mind.”

During her ruling, the judge said the following about the behavior (frankly it seems like she’s making excuses for them):



Each defendant was ordered to pay £2,835, including:

  • A £1,500 fine
  • £500 to each of the two cabin crew they had been abusive towards
  • A victim surcharge of £150 and £85
  • A further £100 for refusing to put on masks when told to do so

I find it interesting that the cabin crew directly are getting money from the people who mistreated them — that’s a fun twist, and well deserved, if you ask me.

Bottom line

Three people who had just finished filming a reality TV show acted horribly on a British Airways flight from Miami to London. They thought they were above the law, but clearly weren’t, and have now each been forced to pay £2,835.

While we all act out of character sometimes, these weren’t children (I don’t buy the “youth” argument when you’re 29), and this kind of behavior doesn’t come out of nowhere. Sure, people might act silly if they’re drunk, but this level of abuse towards others, including name-calling and name-dropping, clearly came from somewhere.

Hopefully they learned their lesson…

  1. The passengers sitting around that trio could possibly claim damages. Must be a tort in there somewhere.

  2. I’m sorry this is still privilege at it’s finest. These guys deserve jail time let alone some peanuts fine paid off by their rich parents.

  3. The fines are too small to be impactful in this case; lifetime bans in the airline would more likely cripple the way they get around. Sleeping pills and anxiety medication aren’t good excuses; isn’t 20% of population on some kind of antidepressant? Yet I don’t see a fifth of the passengers acting like jackasses on my flights!

  4. Add a zero (AT LEAST) to those fines. Add some jail time (I bet even 7 days would be enough). And ban them from BA.

    Absolutely abhorrent behavior.

    Alcohol reveals your true self…

  5. For everyone smart enough not to watch the show, I managed to get through season one, don’t ask how.

    To give an idea of the participants in this show: one of them didn’t know where Australia was…

  6. WHITE PEOPLE B*LLSHIT. If they were anything but Caucasian, the outcome would have been different.

  7. A drunk tongue speaks a sober mind.

    A right cross might have settled him down a bit for the remainder of the flight.

  8. British’s 29 years old “YOUTH” self important reality show star, compared
    American’s 74 years old “YOUTH” self important reality show star……..

  9. Right – until the penalties for this kind of shit outweigh the attention they crave, it’s gonna continue to happen. Their parents put up with this behavior from their children. The rest of society doesn’t have to.

  10. Someone should have video recorded it and ran an online “Behind The Scenes” thing lol. At least let the FAs get something out of it.

  11. @Sean

    Let your racist flag fly! Mawhinney’s mother is from Dominica and would not be described as Caucasian.

  12. You can be sure these twats are banned from flying BA.
    @Sean Matthew Mawhinney is mixed race , not that it has any relevance. I’m sure his mother is appalled, given the fact she had to be mentioned.

  13. What’s wrong with BA???!!! Where’s the part about the Lifetime Ban? Seems the punishment was a little slap on the wrist.

  14. When people watch this garbage and turn mediocre, talentless people into pseudo celebrities this is the predictable result; loutish, entitled boors. It’s not unique to these “reality stars”, but they seem to embody it perfectly. TikTokers, influencers, all of them, no one should be surprised by any of them acting like garbage.

  15. Why do you watch these idiots’ show tho?
    And why so much detail on them (names, etc)
    You don’t have a secret crush on them do you? Mmm, and this is NOT just a revenge because theyre too hot for u to handle…
    hahahahaha JK

  16. But seriously just sounds like they had too many drinks and they’re probably not very adult and mature people even without the booze
    I used to see it happening on every single flight BA 274/275 to various degrees of drama
    They just need to pay the fines and be banned. Too much attention and publicity (bad publicity is still publicity)

  17. The fact his mother was previously Attorney General for England and Wales and separately for Northern Ireland is neither nor there. There is no such post as AG for the entire UK.

    Our AG is totally different from a US AG either at state or Federal Level.

    I doubt any BA cabin crew would even know who our current AG is let alone one who left office in 2010!

    Idiots the lot of them.

  18. And all the other passengers just sat there, kept quiet, pretending nothing was happening….that says a lot.

  19. Not sure why anyone on a so-called reality show is referred to as a “star”. They are far from it. They are no talent lowest common denominators attention seekers.

  20. I guess that self important moron Ben had nothing better to report on this weekend!!!

  21. Typical white privilege. They are fortunate to not be people of color. Otherwise the situation could have ended differently.

  22. The judge (probably a district magistrate) was far too sympathetic and lenient with these idiots and should have slapped them with a much heavier penalty, and even been a bit creative with additional sanctions with a bit of sting in it.

  23. I’ve often wondered, if we agree that drinking and driving should receive harsher punishments, why not drinking and talking?

  24. fine is way way too small for what they did. “Being on some sought of medication” is so yesterday for an excuse. if they cannot hold their liquor they should not drink. Shows how they were raised and should be banned from traveling on BA.

  25. @Jeffrey Chang

    “Lifetime No Fly List.

    They can leave their little island via cargo steamer.” AS CREW ONLY!

  26. These guys should have been arrested. No discussion. And I hope that whoever produces that show will kick them out. This is as bad as sex harassment. Why should verbal abuse which can lead to traumatic stress be so nicely treated. The fine is a joke.

  27. why is it okay for Ben to call these people names like “Moron” ? would he like to be called names, they still deserve not to be called names, why are you all including Ben making judgement on them? calling them trash and morons, you are stooping down to their level.

  28. @ john — A definition of moron is “a person who is lacking in good judgment.” I would say that pretty accurately describes these people.

  29. I’m sure if they’d all been black and lower income, the outcome would have been exactly the same. Right?

  30. I know several of the folks on the production crew for this series. These folks came on to the set ‘self entitled’ & caused many production delays. Their Last gig as far as everyone in the film & video industry is concerned. Although they did not get an air banishment, their future career in video & video is a total ban. Their action on the return is merely a coda.
    Frankly, as a person who flies regularly who has has to witness several incidents, I must state flying in the air is a true privilege, Not a right. Geez..

  31. JDE says:
    May 2, 2021 at 4:15 am

    These guys should have been arrested.


    They were arrested! That’s how they ended up in court.

  32. I think the crew should have received more, or at least the proceeds all the proceeds of the find should have gone to the crew.

  33. You are an enabler of this kind of behaviour, regardless of how much you abhor it, because you help create these monsters by watching their ludicrous shows. We all share responsibility. I’ve watched that cretinous Housewives program, albeit 10 years ago, so I’m not absolved from blame either.
    As for this trio: fines mean less than nothing, jail is the only punishment they’d understand , and is warranted. Six months, without remission.

  34. This is truly disgusting behaviour, by anyone’s judgement.

    Wouldn’t it have been better for the Captain to divert to the nearest (and hopefully inconveniently remote) US airport, where they would have been offloaded treated far more in keeping with their behaviour as the US are far more intolerant, and rightly so, towards air crew abuse.

    that would also have give the remaining passengers the peace they deserved.

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