American Airlines flight attendants are no longer allowed to kick you off of a flight unless you’re a threat to safety or security.
That’s what cabin crew are being told with a revision to the airline’s Inflight Manual, and comes as a result of a review prompted by eight black men being removed from an aircraft over reported body odor issue (the men did not know each other and were not traveling together, and the NAACP threatened to reinstate its travel warning against flying American as a result).
- When there are concerns unrelated to safety or security, those need to be raised by a passenger before any action is taken.
- The goal is to avoid removing a customer, not to remove them.
- No flight attendant can act alone – two crewmembers need to work on resolution.
- While the captain retains authority on passenger removal for safety of the flight, if it’s not a safety/security issue the captain now must contact a Complaint Resolution Official at the airline. And crew must fill out a CERS report.
Here’s the relevant internal summary of the change, that went out to every American Airlines flight attendant:
The memo continues,
Overall this seems like a good change. I’ve been on flights on various airlines where I’ve seen a passenger get concerned as their bag gets moved in the overhead bin, and a flight attendant asks “Are we going to have a problem?” the implied threat being the passenger will be removed from the plane for questioning the crew. Of course what is – and is not – a safety and security issue is effectively still being left to the crew in the moment (and, ultimately, to the captain).
Delta recently found itself embroiled in controversy after removing a veteran from a flight over their ‘end veteran suicide’ shirt, forcing her to remove the clothes and then bumping her out of an extra legroom seat.
Removing passengers over their attire is something that would no longer be the purview of a single flight attendant at American – and since it’s not a safety or security issue in almost every case, it would be a decision removed to corporate. That should also lead to greater uniformity.
- Here’s women in swimsuits checking in for an American Airlines flight while the carrier’s agents reacted as though it is ‘no big deal.’ This is an airline with a hub in Miami, after all! Rules in Dallas are very different than in Miami!
Well, this seems like a fun flight ✈️ pic.twitter.com/brFDpHXzdo
— Saianel (@saianel) April 12, 2022
- Yet at the same time, American told a curvaceous woman to wear a blanket in order to fly and refused boarding to a Turkish fitness model. They even told a former Miss Universe that her athleisure wear wouldn’t fly when she was more modestly dressed than another passenger on the same flight.
@yahooentertainment #AmericanAirlines told #OliviaCulpo to “cover up” her #sportsbra and #bikeshorts or else she wouldn’t be able to fly to #Cabo ♬ original sound – Yahoo Entertainment
Leaving things like behavior and attire standards up to the airline’s customers, rather than asking a flight attendant to guess at what is offensive, and asking more than one employee to be involved in the decision seem like reasonable steps to address ambiguity. And when immediate safety isn’t a concern, bringing in the company’s perspective seems like the right move, too.
After the David Dao passenger dragging incident in 2017, United stopped calling law enforcement on customers outside of safety and security issues, and started doing de-escalation training with flight attendants. This training turned out to be useful during the pandemic – United was much less likely than American to divert flights over mask non-compliance. De-escalation rather than passenger removal is a good thing.
At the same time, changes like American is making may mean less enforcement of manners, which probably says more about societal decline than it does about American Airlines.
This is a double edged sword. So if an unbathed passenger sits next you (and I don’t know what actually happened in that situation) and you bring it up with the flight attendant be prepared to be told you will need to endure the smell for the duration of the flight. And I’ve seen my share of people boarding a plane (and thank god I can afford premium) that look like it’s been awhile seen their skin has seen soap and water.
Good for AA. The pendulum is swinging back to a healthy role for labor.
But, there ARE instances when a person’s body odor is sickening to fellow passengers: ORD-CKY-DFW Christmas day, packed evening, man assigned to my row, his smell would have knocked a buzzard off a septic tank, the stench was hard as metal. New FA grabbed her 5-inch thick book, tried to find what to do. Told her I’d stay overnight at my expense, book a new flight next morning. Others joining me in the aisle, same issue. She somehow persuaded somebody to let him in their row way at the back. Desk should prevented him from Boarding, again, Christmas night, ‘just get him away from me.’ This happens: it’s not discrimination, each passenger is held to standards that won’t disturb, alarm, interfere with others enjoyment of the ride.
Could we be returning to sanity? Having two FAs involved is a step in the correct direction. Corporate oversight will likely reduce the high dollar lawsuits. Remember you can ask to be moved from the odor offensive passengers. Sadly the ill mannered will always be just that.
I believe the abuses we’ve seen of FA’s arbitrarily removing passengers will be curbed by this change. Absolute power breeds corruption; give any human that kind of authority and they’re bound to abuse it. Make two FA’s agree, and if it’s a real safety/security issue make them justify that in writing, with evidence.
I was on a flight where the child in the seat in front of me had a blanket that smelled of dried feces. I endured it without complaint. I’ve been around people with offensively strong body odor. I say nothing and endure. It happens. Deal with it.
I think this sounds likeca good steep.
For those who don’t know, putting Vicks in an empty Chapstick container (in you TSA liquids bag) gives you access to a product police use around heavily decomposed remains.
I didn’t get a close look at the fella in CKY ’cause my head was turned away, I’m guessing his clothes hadn’t seen any Ivory Snow lately, his head shampoo, his body … don’t even want to think about it. Near match: SW from DAL – MSY, middle seat finally filled by a 300+’er who had to be an NFL player, huge, tall, before takeoff unwrapped a super-king-size bbq sandwich, lots of oinions, poured more pungent sauce on it all, asked the FA for an extra drink cup, when meal finished put the remains on the floor between us, got out his Red Bull, put on his earphones loud enough to rock the seats, demonstrated how to spit tobacco from a distance. Probably not something the FA would do anything about, I figured he was doing it just to show us he could, and nobody would dare say a word. Somebody taught him Entitlement!