Physical Assaults and Mistreatment of Flight Attendants and Customer Service Agents Must Stop

11/05/21

As of October 26, the FAA reports 4,941 instances of unruly passengers with 923 investigations initiated and 216 enforcement cases pending.

Every day, flight attendants and customer service agents across the industry are victims of intimidation, verbal harassment, or physical assault at the hands airline passengers. Over the first half of 2021, passenger misconduct reports to the FAA skyrocketed 2,000 percent to over 3,000 incidents. At Southwest Airlines alone, flight attendants have reported an alarming 477 incidents of passenger misconduct over a one-month period earlier this year. Facemask disputes, frustration over flight delays, cancellations, and pent-up anger from the pandemic are all commonly cited reasons for the surge in violence. When passenger misconduct is reported, airlines often remove offenders from one flight only to put them on another. There is no excuse for allowing this abuse to continue. While the FAA issued a zero-tolerance policy on misconduct and levied over one million dollars in fines to passengers, more must be done to protect flight attendants and customer service representatives on commercial aircraft and in airports.

At the 26th TWU Constitutional Convention in September, Resolution #22 passed unanimously by convention delegates, outlining concrete steps the TWU  International will take to address the issue of assault and harassment of TWU members. These action items include:

• Pursuing legislation to create an industry wide no-fly list for passengers convicted of assaulting airline employees.
• Working with state and local lawmakers to elevate penalties for assaulting airline workers and deter would-be perpetrators.
• Encourage Department of Justice, airlines, and airports to file criminal charges whenever there is an incident of passenger misconduct or assault on board commercial aircraft.
• Seek mandatory paid training for flight attendant self-defense.
• And other action items aimed at creating safer work environments for airline workers.

The TWU and our labor allies in aviation are in ongoing discussions on this issue, addressing recent developments and exploring common strategies focused on passenger assaults and misconduct. Likewise, the TWU is participating in working groups facilitated by the FAA that brought together aviation industry stakeholders, including labor groups, airlines, airport facility operators, and law enforcement to develop best practices aimed at mitigating worker assaults and passenger  isconduct . Finally, the TWU has been active with state and federal agencies and lawmakers calling for increased prosecutions and penalties of unruly passengers as well as the development of federal policy and legislation aimed at keeping abusive passengers
out of our workplaces, out of airports, and off our aircraft.

More work is to be done in this space to combat the scourge of passenger misconduct and airline worker assault. Violence against our members is never acceptable and the TWU remains committed to working towards safer work environments for our members.

Thanks for your support and stay tuned for more updates.