That Osteen Family Christmas spirit

osteen.jpgYou know, it’s difficult not having the Joel Osteen Family maid along on those pesky first class trips to Vail to take care of untidiness. The Chronicle story reports the following:

A dispute involving the wife of Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen delayed holiday travel plans for a planeload of passengers . . . At least some people aboard the Continental Airlines flight [to Vail, Colorado] were less than pleased after waiting about two hours at Bush Intercontinental Airport while the Osteens left the plane and their luggage was removed, said a woman who witnessed the incident.
“She was just abusive,” said Sheila Steele, who said she was sitting behind Victoria Osteen. “She was just like one of those divas.”

FBI Special Agent Luz Garcia said the Osteens were asked to leave the jetliner after an “altercation.” She said Victoria Osteen “failed to comply” with instructions from the flight attendant. She added that no one was detained. Lakewood Church spokesman Donald Iloff said Victoria Osteen contacted a flight attendant after noticing that a liquid had been spilled on her seat. The spill apparently was not cleaned up to her satisfaction, Iloff said. . .
Steele said Victoria Osteen was upset about liquid on her pull-down tray and asked a flight attendant to have it cleaned. When the attendant, who was carrying paperwork to the cockpit, told her she couldn’t do it immediately, Osteen replied, “Fine, get me a stewardess who can,” Steele said.
She said Victoria Osteen pushed a flight attendant and tried to get into the cockpit. . . Steele said she and other passengers were upset that they had to wait about two hours while the Osteens’ baggage was removed from the plane.

The Vail Daily article on the incident is here, and Laurence Simon has some fun with the incident here. A prior post on the Osteen’s Lakewood Church empire is here.
Time for Lakewood Church to buy one of these?
Update: Here is Mrs. Osteen’s letter to the Lakewood congregation about the incident.

6 thoughts on “That Osteen Family Christmas spirit

  1. I think God uses that spill, and incident to show Victoria her weakness. Unless, she learned she will be always regarded as a diva, spoiled brat. I mean for a wife of a gentle preacher she should act much better that. God cleaned up her stained of sin , could she atleast do the honor of cleaning the liquid stain? or better yeat be christian like. I mean Im not agoody goody Christian, but I tell you Im a class act. Talking about spill, I would have cleaned it myself and smile and say This is the Lord has made and I will be glad in it, regardless. I feel sorry for her, In wish she could se what God is trying to tell her.. May God bless! -ray-

  2. Hey all,
    I must remain anonymous to protect my sources, but here’s what happened-WITHOUT any speculation or spin. Enjoy!
    Small amount of liquid spilled on the first class armrest slide out. There was no liquid or other mess in the seat itself. Mrs Osteen left her seat and asked a flight attendant to clean it up. The first class FA handed her some napkins and said she’d be right with her, that she would get the cleaners (who were still on the aircraft) to clean it up since she was busy with something else in the galley. Mrs Osteen began a verbal barrage and grabbed the FA by the arm and pulled her towards the seat while demanding very loudly that the “stewardess” clean it immediately. After a brief and loud verbal confrontation with much animation, Mrs Osteen apparently struck the FA with her hands. The consensus was it was likely accidental and not an intentional attempt to hit the FA. All would have been forgiven except that she then attempted to elbow her way past two FA’s and into the cockpit. At that point the Captain intervened and determined that Mrs Osteen should be removed from the aircraft. She left under duress with the remainder of her family in tow. Mr Osteen never injected himself into the confrontation in any manner, verbal or otherwise. Passengers in first class and in the most forward rows of the coach cabin wrote out statements to confirm the FA’s story. The aircraft taxiied out but was then recalled by the company to the gate for the crew to complete police reports.
    The FA I flew with said she had been contacted by the Inflight Base Director who emphatically and categorically denied that a private jet was chartered to transport the Osteens to Vail. She also instructed the FA not to talk to the press.
    Apparently the story broke because there was a writer for the Houston Chronicle and a local TV news crew onboard the aircraft as passengers. They reported what the saw/heard which is how the story broke.
    End of story.

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