If you read he story, it seems like he chose the job because of the additional benefits: > But for Russell, the job literally offered a ticket out. Free-flight

If you read he story, it seems like he chose the job because of the additional benefits: > But for Russell, the job literally offered a ticket out. Free-flight benefits opened up the world — a jaunt to the Yucatan with the boys, trips to Ireland and France with Hannah, and most important, tickets to Alaska, which still felt most like home. “Flight benefits,” Russell wrote, “were my last hope of seeing my beloved family and state on a regular basis.” And it seems like he previously had ambitions and talent: > In December 2017, he graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in social sciences from Washington State. His blog entries, written for a communications class, described aspirations to join the military, law enforcement, or even management at Horizon. [and] In an online profile, Russell wrote he was passionate about “mountains, pastries, and craft beer.” He aspired to visit every national park, and friends from work recalled him often having a book in hand. I think putting this down to a simple "exploited worker cracks" story is simplistic. He certainly didn't seem particularly resentful: > A video project for that class contrasted the drudgery of his work life in the soggy Pacific Northwest to the global travel it enabled. “I’m Beebo Russell,” he said, “and I’m a ground-service agent.” Continuing in a chipper voice-over as bags descended from a plane on a conveyor belt, he added with crisp comic timing, “That means I lift a lot of bags. Like, a lot of bags — soooooooo many bags.” Over a selfie in the rain, Russell said, “I usually have to work outside in this. But it allows me to do some pretty cool things too. . . . It evens out in the end.” His comment about “Minimum wage. We’ll chalk it up to that.” He added, “Maybe that will grease the gears a little bit with the higher-ups.” seems to not capture fully what his motivation was. > But Matt Scott, the FBI agent, insists “there was never really a clear cut, definitive ‘This is why.’ ” The FBI agent discloses that Russell did text his wife during the incident: “The gist of it is that he’s telling her that she deserved better.” Sounds like depression in my non-professional opinion (also based on a number of his other comments during the flight)