Can of Stella Artois spotted next to pilot on flight to Birmingham

A holidaymaker says he was left stunned after spotting – and snapping a photo of – a can of Stella Artois sitting beside a pilot in the cockpit of a Jet2 flight from Alicante to Birmingham.

Steve Lewis, 59, from Brackley, Northamptonshire, snapped a picture of the lager can, which he says had been sitting beside the pilot “for 20 minutes” as soon as the cockpit door was opened after the plane had landed at Birmingham airport on Monday afternoon.

“I was so shocked, I couldn’t understand why there was alcohol in the cockpit,” Mr Lewis told Mercury Press.

Mr Lewis said he and his partner Steven had been returning from an 11-night stay in Benidorm for Pride when they spotted the can.

“I turned to my partner Steven, who didn’t believe me at first, but then he noticed you could clearly see the Stella branding.”

“It was there for the whole time we were waiting so it wasn’t like the stewards had placed it down while they were busy and went back to move it,” he continued.

“It even had a napkin underneath it which is how they serve drinks to passengers, so I’m a bit skeptical to whether it was there because someone had left it.

“It concerns me that alcohol is even allowed int he cockpit, if it was open or not.”

Upon sending the image to Jet2, Mr Lewis claims he was at first told it was not one of Jet2’s flights, despite the company’s branding being visible in the top left corner.

“I felt like I was being accused of lying,” the 59-year-old said.

“This is what upset me the most, I explained to her that I could prove it was taken on the Alicante to Birmingham flight and she replied to say that the can had been given to the pilot for safe keeping.

“She explained that a senior member of staff had put the unopened can in the cockpit while passengers disembarked from the plane.”

A spokesperson for Jet2 told The Independent: “Upon further investigation of the photograph, we can confirm that it is an unopened can which had been handed to a member of our cabin crew by a customer when they were leaving the aircraft.

“This unopened can was then put down in the cockpit by the member of cabin crew, so that she could continue helping customers as they disembarked.”

Still, Mr Lewis said even if the can was unopened, it shouldn’t have been in the cockpit in the first place.

“I just don’t think it is appropriate to have any alcohol near the flight deck.

“I would like Jet2 to look into this and admit it was wrong ... They have said they are investigating but I haven’t heard anything from them since.”