An employment tribunal in Croydon, south London, criticised BA's decision to dismiss Stewart Clapson, 54, for being "rude and abusive" to the woman, who falsely claimed that another passenger had a bomb on a jumbo jet about to take off from Gatwick for the island of Barbados on October 26 1999.
Captain Clapson, a BA captain for 17 years and a pilot with the airline for 30 years, was sacked after he allegedly made a speaker announcement on the plane saying that the person responsible for the bomb alert was a "stupid woman" who had ruined everybody's holiday by delaying the plane.
After taxiing off the runway he allegedly emerged from his cockpit shouting: "Where is she? Where is she?" before confronting the woman, pointing his finger in her face and reducing her to tears.
After being demoted to co-pilot with a salary reduction from £120,000 to £70,000, Capt Clapson, from East Molesey, Surrey, was dismissed after appealing.
The tribunal ruled that Capt Clapson should be reinstated had to the position he held immediately before he was sacked, which was co-pilot, and gave British Airways until May 1 to reinstate him.
Captain Clapson expressed relief after the hearing and hailed the decision as "an important victory for all airline captains who should not now have to worry about being second-guessed by executives on the ground in their handling of disruptive passengers".
A BA spokesman said after the hearing: "We are disappointed but at the same time we respect the decision of the tribunal."
