Flight attendant in passenger tiff mulls plea deal

NEW YORK (AP) — A former JetBlue flight attendant accused of cursing out a passenger and sliding down an emergency exit chute is working on a plea deal.

Steven Slater appeared today in a New York City courtroom for a brief hearing on criminal mischief charges.

Attorneys on both sides said a deal was being discussed.

Slater also was charged with reckless endangerment and trespassing after last month’s meltdown aboard a JetBlue Airways Corp. flight from Pittsburgh that had just landed at Kennedy International Airport.

Defense attorney Daniel J. Horwitz has said the passenger’s “lack of civility” prompted his behavior.

Slater became water cooler talk for days after his Aug. 9 meltdown. Online groups canonized him as a hero or vilified him as a cranky brat.

He left JetBlue last week.