Steven Slater, the now-infamous flight attendant whose meltdown captivated the nation, is out of jail on bail. INSIDE EDITION has the latest.
The world's most famous flight attendant is out of jail! Steven Slater was grinning ear to ear leaving jail on $2,500 bail.
One reporter asked, "Steven, how do you feel today?"
"Relieved. Rested," replied Slater.
The fed-up flight attendant-turned-overnight-folk-hero for his airplane freak out quickly found himself in the middle of a media mosh pit.
"What do you say to all the people who support you?" asked one reporter.
"I greatly appreciate it," replied Slater.
But Slater seemed to lose his patience again, and literally took off running. Slater eventually made it to an apartment building on New York's Upper East Side, where he spent the night. He said he was exhausted and wanted a good meal and a hot bath.
Slater's boyfriend Ken had a mild meltdown of his own, lashing out at camera crews camped outside the couple's home on Long Island.
Ken exclaimed, "I have a medical condition and each and every one of you is causing me to have my arhythmia and I will pass out. Leave leave leave."
Both men seemed to be in better spirits Wednesday, waving and smiling in a white SUV.
The flight attendant's mother, Diane, who is battling cancer, is hailing her son as a hero. She told reporters, "Nobody should be abusing anybody. I can understand why he snapped. I would have snapped too."
Mom's not alone. Fifty percent of American's consider Slater a hero according to one poll. Ten percent say "he's a idiot" and 30 percent said "he's just plain crazy."
Now, the planes passengers are coming forward to talk about what happened.
JetBlue passenger Katie Dobbler said, "He said 'To the (expletive deleted) who just told me to (expletive deleted). (Expletive deleted) you. It's been a great 28 years. I'm out of here' and with that the whole plane just gasped. Lots of people start to giggle, and everyone's just in shock looking at each other like I cannot believe I just saw that."
Another passenger, actress Lauren Wood says that Slater had a bad attitude the entire flight, well before the argument with a passenger about overhead luggage. She is blasting Slater on her blog, calling him "a jerk. Not some hero for 'sticking it to the man.' "
For the first time, we're hearing Jetblue's communication recordings made in the moments just after Slater grabbed a few beers from the concession cart, activated the emergency chute and slid into overnight fame.
"We just had a slide deployment on 274. It was intentionally deployed," said the air traffic control recordings.
It's fitting that Slater is said to have lost his cool over luagge. On an avaition website just a few months ago, the flight attendant calls himself a "bag nazi" who admits to getting angry about oversized carry on luggage.
The late night comics are having a field day with the flip out!
Jey Leno said on The Tonight Show, "I'm sure you heard Jetblue's new slogan is screw you."
Jimmy Kimmel said on Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel, "If all of us had jobs with inflatable slides, eighty percent would leave jobs that way."
