FLYING DANGEROUS SKIES: Flight attendants worried as violent encounters with passengers increase
A flight attendant for an international airline under the alias Meryl Love recently wrote in an opinion piece for 'The Guardian' that she takes off her flight crew uniform as soon as she is done with work because of concerns for her personal safety. "Passengers are particularly tense in this summer of travel chaos, and in my cabin crew uniform, I am the physical embodiment of all their flying woes." she wrote. It seems that Meryl Love is not the only one who faces this predicament.
According to the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO (AFA), the nation's top flight attendant organization, concerns about travel safety and security have increased over the past year as flight crews deal with disorderly and rude customers, violence, and staffing issues. The head of the AFA, Sara Nelson, spoke about the flight attendants' concerns for their safety at a Homeland Security transportation meeting. This meeting took place on November 12, 2021, and all information from it was made available by Fox News Digital.
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"Flight Attendants wonder every morning they put on their uniform whether [they will have] a sign of leadership and authority in the cabin to keep everyone safe, or a target for a violent attack," Nelson stated at the time. Nelson observed that in 2021, flight attendants witnessed a rise in disruptive behavior among passengers that the industry had never before experienced in the history of aviation.
According to an AFA internal survey of 5,000 flight attendants, 85 percent of respondents dealt with 'unruly passengers' in the first half of 2021. "While the number of bad actors is relatively small, the incidents of disruptions have been so pervasive," Nelson stated. "The frequency of events [has] led some in the media to refer to the disruptive outbursts and violent behavior as a ‘new normal.’ That is something we simply cannot accept for our safety and security."
Some of these in-flight disruptions, according to Nelson, were caused by passengers who were under the influence of alcohol, as well as a failure to communicate the 'rules and penalties' for disruptive behavior. Nelson testified that disruptive passengers make it more likely that a flight attendant, who she considers to be the first responder to a coordinated attack, will miss cues of a coordinated attack.
To relieve the hardships of flight attendants, Nelson suggested that addressing violence and disrespect toward flight crew on the ground, as well as stronger government actions, keeping a unified list of violators, addressing staffing shortages, and providing self-defense training, can help reduce incidents on flights. Nelson had put together her list of suggestions eight months ago, and it appears that flight attendants are still struggling.
The number of disruptive incidents in the United States is decreasing, according to an ongoing "unruly passenger" investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) at this time. Nonetheless, there were 2.4 incidents reported for every 10,000 flights in the week ending July 3, 2022.