30,000 feet of abuse!
Unruly passengers out of control: survey
They’ve been punched, kicked, screamed at and called all kinds of names — from offensive terms like “fat gorilla” to sexist and homophobic slurs.
U.S. flight attendants have dealt with increasingly violent behavior this year as air travel picks up nationwide. A new survey released Thursday shows that 85% of attendants faced at least one unruly passenger in the first six months of 2021.
The survey by the Association of Flight Attendants also found that 58% of the nearly 5,000 respondents had five or more disruptive incidents in the same period and 17% reported experiencing at least one physical attack. Many of the incidents involve angry anti-maskers and drunk travelers, but the union said flight delays, cancellations and routine safety reminders have also led to mid-air abuse.
“This survey confirms what we all know, the vitriol, verbal and physical abuse from a small group of passengers is completely out of control, and is putting other passengers and flight crew at risk,” AFA President Sara Nelson said in a statement. “This is not just about masks as some have attempted to claim. There is a lot more going on here and the solutions require a series of actions in coordination across aviation.”
The organization wants authorities to crack down on violent travelers and impose tough consequences on anyone breaking the law and threatening the safety of flight attendants and passengers. It also urged the Federal Aviation Administration to make its recently adopted “zero tolerance” policy permanent, which would result in legal enforcement action against violent and disruptive passengers without first warning or counseling them.
The survey, which covers flight attendants from 30 airlines, found that 71% of respondents who filed incident reports against passengers never received a follow-up and a majority of them did not observe efforts by their employees to address the rise in unruly behavior.
“We tell (passengers) that it is a federal offense to not comply with crew member instructions, use foul and/or threatening language onboard, and then the plane is met by airline supervisors or airport law enforcement and the passenger gets a slap on the wrist and sent on their way,” a flight attendant said in the survey.
“I’ve been yelled at, cursed at and threatened countless times in the last year and the most that has come out of it has been a temporary suspension of travel for the passenger,” the anonymous respondent wrote. “We need real consequences if flight attendants are ever going to feel safe at work again.”
Attacks against flight attendants have resulted in serious injuries and forced multiple fights to divert in the past few months.
In May, a Southwest Airlines flight attendant lost two teeth and sustained facial injuries following an assault by a passenger who had refused to follow “standard inflight instructions” during a flight in California, according to the airline and a union official. Weeks later, a male passenger on an American Airlines flight heading to Charlotte, N.C., called a crew member “a fat gorilla” and shouted obscenities at her, a despicable incident partially caught on video.
And just days ago, an enraged anti-mask traveler threw a tantrum during an American Airlines flight from New Orleans to Dallas and kept screaming at crew members and police even after she was removed from the plane, authorities said.
The FAA has sought hefty fines against some of the suspects this year. It recently proposed a $52,000 fine against a Delta Air Lines passenger accused of trying to open the cockpit door, refusing to comply with crew members’ instructions, striking a flight attendant in the face and pushing him to the floor.
“The FAA shares the concerns of the Association of Flight Attendants, and we’re deeply troubled any time a cabin-crew member faces threats while performing their critical, safety duties,” the agency said in a statement to the Daily News. “That’s why we adopted a zero-tolerance policy, and why we are taking the strongest possible action within our legal authority.”