Three British Airways crew members on a flight from London to Los Angeles wound up in hospital on 13 February 2026, after unknowingly ingesting cannabis-infused gummy bears gifted to them by passengers. The incident has triggered an internal investigation into crew safety and passenger interactions.
The gummies were consumed on the crew bus, which was transporting staff from the airport to their hotel. Soon afterwards, the crew began to feel unwell, reporting dizziness and nightmarish ‘out-of-body’ sensations. By the time they reached their hotel, the effects had intensified, and the three crew members were taken to the hospital.
It then emerged that the seemingly harmless sweets were cannabis edibles containing THC, the psychoactive compound found in marijuana. Reports indicate that the bag may have contained up to 300 mg of THC in total, which has been described as a ‘massive amount’. For context, a standard recreational dose for an occasional user is typically 5–10 mg.
“Didn’t their parents ever tell them not to take sweets from strangers?” quipped one Facebook user.
An investigation is now underway to identify the passenger who provided the sweets and establish whether this was an ill-judged practical joke or something more sinister. While passengers occasionally offer chocolates or small gifts to crew members as a thank you, drugging staff is an entirely different story. Some observers have described it as a “godsend” that the sweets were not shared among the crew until they had arrived in the US, as this might otherwise have compromised passenger safety.
The motives remain unclear, but although cannabis edibles are legal in California, transporting cannabis products internationally is illegal under UK law and restricted under US federal law. Therefore, bringing them into the US from the UK would constitute an offence under US Customs and Border Protection rules, despite California’s state laws. If the sweets were in unlabelled packaging, this may also have made them difficult to identify.
Airline regulations regarding substances are notoriously stringent. While the legal blood-alcohol limit for aircrew is 20 mg per 100 ml – four times stricter than the UK drink-drive limit – consumption is entirely prohibited within eight hours of reporting for duty. The policy on drugs is zero tolerance. In this case, however, the crew appear to have been victims rather than offenders and are therefore unlikely to face disciplinary action.
British Airways had to fly a replacement crew to Los Angeles to operate the return flight to London. In a statement, the airline said: “A small number of our crew reported feeling unwell at their hotel and have since recovered. We sent a replacement crew to operate the return flight, which had no impact on our customers”. The affected crew members returned to the UK soon afterwards.
The guilty passenger could face a number of police charges. Identifying those involved should not prove difficult, given that passenger identities and seat assignments are recorded. The incident, however, has not been met with universal sympathy. Some industry observers have recalled a previous scandal in Rio de Janeiro, where British Airways crew members fabricated a story about a violent robbery to cover up an illicit drug and alcohol binge. This history has led some to question the current narrative, with sceptics online already suggesting that the ‘generous passenger’ may never have existed.
