A 79-year old ex-Delta Air Lines flight attendant has filed a lawsuit against the airline after being accused of stealing a carton of milk, amongst other things.
Ida Gomez Llanos has worked for Delta for over 50 years and she claims she was wrongfully terminated. She says her fellow flight attendants were jealous of her seniority and her $250,000 salary, so they "harassed and bullied" her until she was terminated.
"I couldn’t believe it," the former flight attendant told the Daily Mail in an interview. "I’ve been accused of so many things and none were true. I try not to take it personally, but when you get mean about me and start lying, that is a problem."
Llanos also said that passengers stuck up for her while her colleagues went after her. "They accused me of sleeping, of taking chocolates, not doing a good job – but my letters from passengers proved that wrong," she told the Daily Mail. "They accused me of not being able to arm or disarm the doors. But we all go through training every year, and we have to pass that training or we do not fly."
Delta responded to Llanos' claims in a statement to Inside Edition.
"While Ms. Gomez had a long career at Delta, she was only one of more than 2,600 flight attendants with 40 or more years of seniority," the airline said. "Any suggestion that Delta terminated Ms. Gomez because of her age or for taking a catering item off a plane is false and grossly misleading. While Delta does not generally discuss the details of an employee’s job performance, it can say that Ms. Gomez was terminated only after being repeatedly counseled and disciplined for committing numerous policy violations, none of which were determined to be 'fabricated' as she now contends."
