JetBlue called the cops and banned a passenger, cancelling his return flight, after speaking to a flight attendant about another member of the cabin crew who was wearing a Palestine flag pin.
After the flight attendant put on an apron for service and placed only her Palestine flag pin over the apron for service so that her other pins were obscured, but she was making sure this one continued to be visible. The Jewish passenger who was flying to Las Vegas on Sunday noticed the woman allowed the apron to cover up pins including Black Lives Matter.
JetBlue airlines hit with 'anti-Semitism' accusations after calling the police on Jewish passenger and accusing him of causing a 'disturbance' after he complained about flight attendant's Palestine lapel pin https://t.co/WChIvCPEqn pic.twitter.com/N63DRxBmKh
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) April 30, 2024
He spoke to the lead crewmember and expressed that “it was upsetting that she wore that, and that she only changed that pin to the front of the apron, not the others.” He says he was told in response, “okay, I’ll speak with her.”
Nothing more was said during the flight, but a JetBlue employee boarded the aircraft and a flight attendant pointed him out.
‘He goes, ‘Sir! I need to speak with you.’ …’So we go to the top of the ramp. I go, ‘What are you speaking about?’ He said: ‘The disturbance you caused on the airplane.’ I said ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘He said ‘I’m going to need to see your ID. Our pilot called down about the disturbance you caused.’ I said ‘I didn’t cause any disturbance. I’m not giving you my ID.’
‘He said, ‘I’m gonna call Las Vegas Metro PD.’ I said ‘do so.’ So he calls the police and he says ‘I’m standing here with a passenger that caused a disturbance on our flight.’
The passenger left, not waiting for police. Then the TrueBlue member who has held status for 10 years with the carrier discovered that JetBlue cancelled his return flight. An agent over the phone read him notes,
‘That was not true at all,’ he said. ‘I had a conversation with the woman sitting next to me, who brought up the LGBTQ group Queers for Palestine. We had a quiet conversation, not addressing the flight attendant.
‘I said ‘yeah, it’s a bit sad because if they went there, they would be killed.’ I had no communication with the flight attendant, whatsoever.
Reportedly the passenger who sat next to him “confirmed his story.”
It is possible to wear a Palestinian flag and believe you’re advocating for two states. That isn’t usually what it means. One wears the pin to represent “from the river to the sea” Jews will be cleansed, and the land will be Palestinians. At a minimum the frequency with which this message is attached to the symbol means it’s likely to be understood this way.
According to the airline,
JetBlue is committed to providing a respectful and welcoming environment for all our customers and crewmembers.
We are urgently investigating this incident, reaching out to the customer to hear first-hand about their experience and speaking to the crewmembers involved to understand if the actions taken were consistent with our policies and our customer service standards.
To be clear, crewmembers wearing Palestine flag pins is hardly limited to JetBlue. What’s unique in the case of JetBlue is that when a passenger spoke up about their own reaction, the passenger was met by police and their return flight cancelled. The problem here isn’t speech, it’s asymmetric speech (free speech for me, but not for thee, much as on college campuses where speech is currently loudest from those with a privileged place in the oppression hierarchy).
Last time we checked @Delta, your airlines is American based with no flights to “Palestine”.
Why is your employee at Ronald Reagan Airport wearing a Palestinian flag? pic.twitter.com/qyguQ7KLWn
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) May 1, 2024
There’s this weird idea that’s somehow become popular about ‘bringing your whole self to work.’ That’s dumb. I certainly don’t bring my whole self to the office, it’s work not friends and family, and it’s a place to be professional. We’re there to do a job not to kibbitz.
It’s far more problematic at an airline. At an office there’s both self-selection and employer selection that tends to create common ground among employees in a given workspace. Air travel brings people together from all walks of life, having good days and bad days, and traps them inside of a metal tube for hours at a time. That can already be combustible.
Even more challenging is when disagreements are between passengers and crew, because of the power disparity between them under the law.
- The FAA reauthorization bill increases the maximum penalty for passengers violation aviation regulations from $25,000 to $75,000 and make the same penalties that apply to interfering with security screening personnel extend to airport and airline personnel “performing ticketing, check-in, baggage claim, or boarding functions.”
- 49 USC § 44902 provides broad latitude, within certain bounds laid out by the FAA, for the captain of an aircraft to refuse transportation to a passenger if they feel that passenger might be “inimical to safety.” While passengers don’t have to obey crewmember instructions on any and all subjects unrelated to safety, failure to follow any instruction or simply making a crewmember ‘feel unsafe’ is enough for a captain to toss a passenger regardless of whom is at fault.
Bringing crewmember politics onto the aircraft, and forcing passengers to remain silent in response under threat of both airline and legal sanction, is certainly one choice for an airline to make.
Of course passengers get kicked off for their attire – whether for ‘not enough’ attire or because the messages they’re wearing are deemed offensive, whether it’s F-12 in the aftermath of George Floyd or F-cancer after completing treatment.
I believe that as a uniformed employee, AT WORK, ought to be limited to wearing authorized “uniform parts” ONLY. I simply think that “non-regulatory” pins, etc., should not be allowed on crew members WHILE THEY WORK; before and after, fine, but not on the plane. The crew is there to do a job, not “advocate” their personal beliefs or “stands.”
Heading down to the kitchen to fire up the popcorn…
Newsflash, Richard, crews and employees are human beings with human feelings. A culture shift from the millennial generation to stand up for what’s right? I celebrate that. I bring my whole self to work to stand up for the rights of my friends and colleagues.
With respect to Jews and Israelis, I’ve worked with many in my career, and they have a cultural tendency to antagonize even when they don’t even realize it. The Jewish passenger on this JetBlue flight may have lacked self awareness to realize the disturbance he caused.
Is the Palestinian national flag banned in Israel? It’s most certainly not banned in any country where I’ve lived or spent more than 6 months on the ground.
As long as the airline allows national flag pins, the Palestinian flag pin-wearer wasn’t the problem on the flight. The problem on the flight in this circumstance was the annoyed passenger triggered by a national flag.
“Queers for Palestine” – oh, you mean the “Chickens for KFC” folks. LOL.
But, seriously now – this FA seems to be a good fit for the pro-terror, pro-Islamonazi crowd since she’s lying through her teeth about the passenger, and if she’s a “queer, black, socialist” etc etc what is she doing aligning herself with Arab nationalists and Islamo-nazis? That’s queer alright.
I would not feel safe with someone deranged like this as a crew member on board.
An old Zionist slogan, envisaged statehood extending over the two banks of the Jordan river, and when that vision proved impractible, it was substituted by the idea of a Greater Israel, an entity conceived as extending from the Jordan to the sea.[10][11] The Palestinian phrase has also been used by Israeli politicians. The 1977 election manifesto of the right-wing Israeli Likud party said: “Between the sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty.”[12][13][14] Similar wording, such as referring to the area “west of the Jordan river”, has also been used more recently by other Israeli politicians,[3] including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 18 January 2024.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irgun
“free speech for me, but not for thee, much as on college campuses where speech is currently loudest from those with a privileged place in the oppression hierarchy”?
The privileged place is occupied by the big donors and the right-wing elements that get favorable coverage from law enforcement and institutional authorities much like the bigoted mobs in India do while crying about “appeasement of privileged minorities” as part of the effort to silence and disappear opposition and status quo power-dynamic challenging minorities.
Last I heard, weren’t something like a majority of Americans not fans of the Israeli-Palestinian war being waged by the extremist Netanyahu regime that wants to silence America’s peaceful anti-war protesters?
Hey, it’s good to know who is cool with terrorist raping and slaughtering innocent people for being jewish. And, DL and JetBlue are to be congratulated for being so open about allowing horrible people to out themselves. Including the manager at JetBlue who called the cops on someone who dared to disagree with support for the 10/8 slaughter. How dare he?
High class professional says Jews have a tendency to antagonize. Please expand on that.
@High Class – get over yourself. Employees represent the company and most companies have very strict rules on what employees can and can not wear at least in customer facing roles. No way the FA should be allowed to wear the pin (or a BLM in either) as that may turn off some customers. It isn’t about their “whole self” or their briefs – it is about representing the company they work for (quit if you don’t like it) and serving a broad range of customers with differing beliefs.
That said – @Gary I seriously doubt this occurred as the passenger said and as you repeated. I realize you are Jewish and likely to side with him but I seriously doubt a simple request, in a quiet voice with no follow up would get this response. Maybe he insisted or continued to raise it to FAs or other passengers. Maybe he acted in some way, without speaking, to the FA wearing the pin. Just saying don’t ever believe 1 side of a story, especially one you are likely biased to believe anyway.
@High class professional – bringing “whole self to work to stand up for the rights…” blah-blah-blah…
This definitely makes you low-class and shows non-professional behavior. Nobody cares about you and your “self”. Leave it at home , and come to work to do a job, not to advocate about rights of your friends, family, neighbors, etc.
It is a UNIFORM. I realize it’s 2024 and words either mean nothing or too much, but it means that everyone is dressed the same for work.
So I think we need to do away with all these flight attendant pins. Lanyards demanding a new contract, gay rainbow pins, Palestine pins etc. These things have nothing to do with your job and it’s now causing problems. That man is a paying, loyal client, and deserves to not have to see your views displayed on your UNIFORM.
I have the same problem with the NBA where guys are wearing pink shoes with a blue and white uniform. Draymond Green wearing neon green shoes with the Warriors color scheme for instance. There’s no green (other than him lol).
End of rant.
Imagine what would happen if someone wore a KKK or Condeferate flag pin and pointed it out to this particular flight attendant. I don’t think it would end so well for the passenger. And yes, GUtless Wonder, the KKK or Condeferate flag is not banned in the US, but they are rightly looked upon as undesirable by most people, even if they are looked at differently by a small minority. The same can be said of Palestine.
As Michael Jordan noted, Republicans buy sneakers, too. Jews fly. You want to go demonstrate off-duty, be my guest. JetBlue wants to let it’s employees state political views on the job, either they let passengers comment back or they risk boycotts. It’s a stupid move on the part of financially distressed airline, especially in the NY market.
It’s not really that complicated. If you wear a Palestine Flag pin with the purpose of antagonizing Jewish passengers – and the fact that she put it over the apron is evidence of this – then she is not only antisemitic but also rude and unkind. The fact that passenger was ejected is in my mind further proof of discriminatory intent and treatment.
One wonders how this FA would feel as a passenger if a crew member wore a lapel pin of the apartheid South African Flag? I doubt a Brunei lapel pin would have been welcomed – if people knew what it looked like – when it was having its moment of ostracism for laws persecuting gay people.
Sometimes a flag is just a flag, but sometimes it’s not. The fact that you can still buy Apartheid Lapel pins for a country that – like Palestine – doesn’t exist, is proof that it’s value is more about antagonizing others than showing patriotism. Try and fly today’s Vietnamese flag in Garden Grove California or the PRC Flag in New York Chinatown, and you will quickly understand.
“With respect to Jews and Israelis, I’ve worked with many in my career, and they have a cultural tendency to antagonize even when they don’t even realize it. ”
Really? Jews have a “cultural tendency to antagonize”? I wasn’t aware of that. One might even call such stereotyping antagonistic.
Many people are opposed to the far-right faction of the Israeli government and its war-criminal treatment of innocent (not the Hamas) Palestinians.
That is not the same as being “anti-Semitic” in the normal sense of being anti-Jewish, which I regard as wrong.
Well, that all went pear shaped quickly children didn’t it
An aircraft cabin should be like Switzerland….Neutral.
And the FAA and airlines management should ensure they remain so.
Very simple:
Boycott Jet Blue!
They’ll never see a booking from me or my family.
As I always stated, you are on an aircraft, you can stay neutral and non-controversial during flight, when back on the ground continue whatever your free speech affords you.
Businesses that deal with the public need to maintain a dress code and an appropriate code of conduct. Wearing a Palestinians pin on the job is an obviously bad idea.
“High-class professional” is so off with the comment that says “With respect to Jews and Israelis, I’ve worked with many in my career, and they have a cultural tendency to antagonize even when they don’t even realize it.”
Maybe when you’re inclined to see things through antagonistic stereotyping lenses, you see what you want to see.
Your way of seeing things isn’t how I see things. There is more diversity within any cultural group than there is between cultural groups. Also, if your experience is limited primarily to crowded urban centers with lots of stressed out people in a stressed out environment — self-selection dynamics being what they are to some extent — that may have an impact on behavior regardless of religious or national identities.
Agree with Richard. Outside work hours, advocate to your heart’s content. Sadly, people use our freedoms to demonstrate some disappointing behaviors, but on the job, especially in such close proximity, give it a rest. You’ll be off the plane and away from the airport in no time and can freely express your views in a way that does not unnecessarily reflect bad on your employer or upset fellow passengers on either side of the political aisle.
I think there’s more to this story that we’re not hearing.
Being anti zionist, anti-fascist, anti-BLM, anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-communist it does not bother me what kind of flag any flight attendant is wearing. The only thing that matter is the efficiency of the service at the cabin.
Even that I hate some flags and pins, I focus on the relevant things. There is a huge difference for being anti-zionist and anti-semitist but for some “reason” both are converted to anti-semitism card to get “the victim” treament. I am hardcore anti-zionist but not at all anti-semitist.
Palestine flag is an official flag of the state which has been recognized more than 100 countries and more to come. Period
“With respect to Jews and Israelis, I’ve worked with many in my career, and they have a cultural tendency to antagonize even when they don’t even realize it. ”
I know right? Maybe we should give them their own seats, entrances and water fountains where they antagonize less.
I can’t believe I just read this crap. I can’t believe a lot of the things I have seen in relation to this. I’ve spent my life learning about it in books and B&W videos. Seeing all this first hand- I guess I have been lucky to have lived in the time that I have.
S–t’s getting scary again.
Flair @ work
https://www.facebook.com/ThatMorningStar/videos/527509524694162/
The placement of the pins says all we need to know.
I’m not surprised his return ticket got cancelled–the airline no doubt got a very wrong report of what happened.
And what is consistently forgotten about freedom of speech is that it protects you from government restrictions, not from private parties. It is completely reasonable for an airline to say no political speech while on the job–and given the descriptions of the pins that’s clearly political speech.
I’ve always found it comical and really sad that the “anti fascist” student/protesters
crowd are the most fascist. Much like the SA brown shirts of 1934 Germany they will be the first ones eliminated. Once their handlers take control
Switzerland isn’t really neutral nowadays — if it really ever were in our lifetimes.
With regard to Chuck M/C_M/whatever, despite his wishes in his prayers and whatever else, the Palestinian national flag is recognized as a national flag by many countries today and a seemingly growing number of countries at that in the last decade. Your KKK and Confederate flags are recognized as national flags by any country today? Didn’t think so. Next issue, old dude.
The passenger should be having conversations with his attorney. The airline’s corporate-speak legal-talk reply suggests a settlement in the offing. “We are trying to understand” is just about always legalese for “We screwed up and are hoping to mitigate the consequences.”
All these snowflakes freaking out about a national flag pin on a uniform at an employer that allows national flag pins.
@E Douglas Jensen –
I wasn’t a fan of the current Israeli administration. It’s no secret why the politics of Israel were driven away from peacemakers like Yitzak Rabin, Ehud Olmert, and Ehud Barak. Their proposals to create an independent Palestinian state and to swap current Israeli land to include in that state were met with violence. Netanyahu is the direct result of Palestinian violence. And October 7th was clearly meant to blow up peace in the region, with Israel and Saudi Arabia on the verge of normalized relations.
It’s hard to know during war who is a civilian and who is a combatant when Hamas hides amongst civilians and uses them as human shields. Civilian casualties are common in war. At the Battle of Normandy alone ~ 20,000 French civilians were killed by Allied bombings of French cities and villages.
Combatants hiding amongst civilians is indeed a war crime. Yet the International Criminal Court considers arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, when it never did so even for.. Bashar al-Assad.
It is disheartening to watch what’s happening now. It’s also hard to know, really, what’s happening or know what Gazans believe. Certainly polls suggest they’ve been supportive of Hamas, but is that because they’d be killed if they said otherwise? Regardless, their direct oppressor is Hamas. Israel has a right to eliminate that threat. And as long as they hide amongst the populace there’s probably no other way to do this.
Hamas, meanwhile, still holds civilian hostages – including Americans.
I guess just openly stating that you think Jews deserve to be raped and beheaded, which is what the “Palestinian flag” symbol means, is about the only way that flight attendants can become more antagonistic to passengers. Kudos to this coke machine for finding new and innovative ways to break the SHUT UP AND POUR THE DRINKS rule and be part of the most useless profession on earth.
What’s more absurd calling the cops because someone complained about a ping
Or feeling threatened/insulted because someone choose to wear a pin?
I don’t know but I though this was travel blog / credit card sales page. Not a geopolitical / free speech blog.
Any political pins or advocacy pins don’t belong on a uniform. This should be common sense. And any airline should reprimand it’s employees for promoting their own opinions via pins. (Just alone because it goes against the concept of the uniform).
@raif, I couldn’t agree more with you. Moreover, as a Jew, I’ll add that a JetBlue employee wearing an Israeli flag on their uniform is a bad idea too. The only pin a JetBlue employee should be wearing is a JetBlue pin.
We need to have a talk about your flair…. IYKYK
The same college campuses that clamor free speech for them, but immediately race to disinvite, protest or cancel any conservative speakers because god forbid they may have to listen to an opinion different than the one they already have. Full disclosure, I’m very liberal. But I’m not a snowflake.
The last time free speech actually existed on a college campus was when Arthur Butz published his holocaust denialism.
I don’t think that someone who works for the public can see you should have on any other attire than their work attire.
I see many comments taking issue with my remark on Jews and Israelis.
It’s not a pleasant truth to confront, but it is true. GUWonder wonders if it’s because I’m interacting with Jewish people in urban environments. That’s a non-issue. All Swedes and Japanese people in the same environments have been unfailingly polite, diplomatic, and deferential.
Nobody would take issue with an assertion that Swedish and Japanese people are very polite.
I am so sick of this never-ending garbage regarding the never-ending conflict between Israel and Palestine. If ignorant Americans want to ‘declare themselves’ in public, it should be viewed properly … it’s none of your business, nothing to see here, move on. If an airline employee asks to see your identification, you produce it … what reason do you have for not complying with a simple request if you haven’t done anything wrong?
The fact that every statement here that starts with “it’s not anti-Semitic to be anti-Zionist” ends with “and that’s why all Jews have bad personalities and the Holocaust didn’t happen” really says it all about what allowing “anti-Zionists” to police their own boundaries leads to and what the “pro-Palestinian” pin represents.
I have worked for many companies and they all do not allow political pins or expressions when you are on the job because it reflects on the company.
“It is possible to wear a Palestinian flag and believe you’re advocating for two states. That isn’t usually what it means. One wears the pin to represent “from the river to the sea” Jews will be cleansed, and the land will be Palestinians. At a minimum the frequency with which this message is attached to the symbol means it’s likely to be understood this way.”
Maybe reconsider whether you really need to use your air travel blog to wade into the nuanced and deeply emotional topic of what various national flags mean to different observers of other nationalities.
JetBlue should fire that flight attendant. JetBlue has a history of firing employees who post on their private Facebook profile their political views because a customer stalked an employees Facebook, got their feelings hit and turned it into JetBlue. JetBlue gets too involved in politics and their HR only targets those who have different views. I stand by this customer 100% and JetBlue does target and discriminates.
Palestine is a terrorist state, funded by Iran to take out Israel (won’t happen). Anyone wearing that pin is supporting such a movement. I do not think anyone should be wearing any flags to work unless its the flag carrier they fly for. JetBlue is an American carrier and that is the only flag that would be fit to fly.
@High class professional – word to the wise, the first rule of holes – when you’re in one, stop digging. The more you write the more ridiculous you sound. Did you just land here from 1860? Please just stop. And this is from someone who is neither Jewish nor Palestinian.
I am tempted to believe the passenger’s story, as I have seen similar events take place in the past. Additionally, JetBlue Airways is the only place I ever worked where I experienced antisemitism from both passengers and fellow crewmembers. I would not be at all surprised if they tried to cover this up.
For an elevated, thoughtful, and elite travel experience, please consider Delta.
“high class professional” says that Swedes encountered are uniformly polite. As someone who spends a bunch of time and then some in the country, I see rudeness quite often. But maybe it’s because I am an old school American and have that as the basis of my standards for judging politenesss.
@Arturo S. The problem is that human coke machines don’t view themselves as “working for the company,” they view the company as a service that pays them to take free flights for some magic reason. They see customers as equivalent to random strangers who intruded onto their vacation and demanded they do waitress work for them, and deserve to be punished for it. As such they don’t take into consideration what “reflects on the company” or what is “appropriate at work” and think no more of enforcing their shitty politics on people than they would about putting a bumper sticker on their own car. As always, the issue is the fundamental stupidity of flight attendants and their misunderstanding of what their job (or indeed what “a job”) is, and the need to fire all of them and start over to fix the culture.
@Arturo, Exactly so! I am free to engage in the political causes I care about on my own time. I am not free to use my company’s time or wear my employer’s uniform (well, we don’t have a uniform, but it’s even more important for those who do) to express my personal views, especially on issues that will offend many of those we need to relate to. And especially it’s wrong when in a role that exercises censorial power over people who simply want to fly from A to B.
A bunch of airlines rooted in the “free world” allow national flags on pins worn by employees. The Palestinian flag being one ought to be fine in a world where it should be just as fine to wear an Israeli flag pin.
It’s quite interesting to see how limited respect for freedom of expression and speech really are when it comes to that from people peacefully opposed to violence against a subjugated people and not engaged in violence (unless and until subjected to violence themselves and often not even then).
In a company that is suppose to treat all customers with equal dignity, wearing political pins or other political things should be strictly forbidden. In this case, the flight attendant should be given time off and the supervisor at the gate should be fired. Without the flight being diverted, I doubt that there was much of a disturbance.
“Palestine” is the blm of this year.
All the same morons who cried about Floyd are crying about the so called “genocides” in “Palestine”. A month ago these same people didn’t know where to find it on the map. For them it’s just a way to hate on white people and their view of them killing “brown people”. The sad thing is greenblatt and his adl created this culture and now is reaping the benefits of it.
@GUW I’ve read you for many many years now here and FT. I am truly surprised to see you fail to comprehend there is no free speech protection for or from anyone or anything except the government.
A customer facing person at any company, uniformed or not, should not be displaying anything that the company would not openly and vocally endorse, as with its own brand and marketing.
It is inappropriate, and from a business perspective, foolish, to allow country flags, cause pins, Union promos, hell, I don’t even think they should be able to display religious pins/jewelry . I support some of the things they pin on themselves, I don’t support others. It’s irrelevant to the argument. None of it should be displayed to customers unless it’s the official directive of the company.
It’s just a country pin? Yes, and I’m sure if you wear Israeli pins you’ll find a different set of offended customers. It’s pretty simple. It’s a business: try not to offend customers.
I do not believe in the Palestinian cause.
Flight attendants should be allowed to wear objectionable pins.
Free speech is a good thing.
The question is where the line is? 1 pin? 2 pins? 53 pins?
Passengers should keep their mouths shut about these things and let supervisors handle them
I would not vote for Netanyahu but it is frankly STUPID when commenters (whether in magazines or Thomas Friedman in the NYT) act as if all israel actions in the war are a result of Bibi. He has historically been one of the more cautious Israeli leaders.
The current war government is a coalition with the Right, Center and Left.
The conduct of the war and Foreign policy reflects national consensus.
Ignoring these facts betray the shallowness of the analysis on offer.
Of course there is only one side of the story of the loser who was offended by a flag.
Probably did cause a disturbance and is now crying foul.
Good on Jetblue for not being intimidated by a disturbance-causing idiot, who when called out for it, pulled the race card
1) It looks like you’re operating with only one side of the story while presenting it as the whole story.
2) I think that people should keep their political, religious, and ethnic opinions separate from their work. It’s the same insipid idea as political yard signs. Have you ever changed your mind on a subject because the neighbors had a yard sign for a certain candidate? Of course not, because all those signs do is anger people who disagree with you or encourage people who already agree with you. They do nothing constructive and neither do the relevant pins.
I doubt she’ll be able to wear it at McDonald’s where she’s going to end up working after private equity picks JetBlue clean.
Employees are paid to do a job. Not to wear their political beliefs on themselves.
Too much of this hurts everyone
@GUWonder – I agree there is “limited respect for freedom of expression” generally. I am concerned with governments restrict it. I long for the days when the ACLU championed speech, such as the Skokie case and the right of Nazis to march.
I’m not sure it’s always appropriate in the workplace.
I wouldn’t crack down on campus protests except to the extent that they interfere with the function of the university, preventing classes from being held etc. I do think it is appropriate to criticize ‘asymmetric free speech’ where only those with status within the campus community as oppressed see their rights protected.
@Gary: This “Their proposals to create an independent Palestinian state and to swap current Israeli land to include in that state were met with violence”
Want to tell me about the violence that ended Yitzhak Shamir’s attempt at a peace deal with the Palestinians? No? I can’t imagine why not, given how condemnatory of violence you are.
I’m also impressed by how many people are just *sure* they know what the flag pin was supposed to mean.
Everybody in this story looks like an idiot: the passenger for complaining about a pin and JetBlue for tossing him off.
Sorry, missed this post:
“where only those with status within the campus community as oppressed see their rights protected.”
Yes, I note how protestors at Columbia, Austin, and various other spots are having their rights protected by police batons.
@Total – I think you’re confusing your Yitzhaks… I was talking about Rabin
” I think you’re confusing your Yitzhaks… I was talking about Rabin”
I’m not confusing anything. What happened to Shamir, Gary?
“I’m not confusing anything. What happened to Shamir, Gary?”
Well, shoot. Yes, I am confusing them. Sigh. Never mind.
Count me in skeptical-the-story-played-out-as-told camp. Even in these charged times it’s hard to imagine police being called for the behaviors the passenger described.
Also, in general, the phrase “free speech” is making it into conversations around these issues far more often than is appropriate, this post included. There is no legal presumption of free speech on a private company’s airplanes just as there isn’t on a private college’s lawn. As you allude to at the end, airlines have pretty broad discretion as to what kind of speech to allow on their planes, of which discretion they certainly make use.
Question the airline’s judgement as to what it allows employees to adorn their uniforms with if you want, but that has nothing to do with “free speech,” (which to most people connotes legal issues not relevant here).
@GUtlessWonder – She’s also wearing a BLM pin, is that a “national flag”? Try to be consistent – or is that “whiteness”.
Airlines have appearance standards and “company approved pins” – usually a union pin, a company given pin, or a company sponsored club pin. If this pin wasn’t company approved, the FA violated the policy they agreed to at hiring. While not a fireable offense, a history of repeated violations is cause for termination. It’s hard to fire someone who calls out sick. It’s a lot easier when they repeatedly disobey policy standards and it’s documented.
C_M needs help with reading straight. My comment was about the national flag pins, not about other pins that have been allowed by this airline and some other US airlines. Now he can go back to his right-wing “come to Jesus” (or his Lord T-rump)” worship session.
Total, Yitzhak Shamir wasn’t assassinated by an extremist anti-Palestinian Israeli. It was left-of-center Yitzhak Rabin as PM who got assassinated and whose assassination was cheered on by extremist anti-Palestinian Israelis.
Yitzhak Shamir, on the right-wing side, was the guy who tried to make common cause with the Nazis and Mussolini while he was a key player in the Lehi/Stern Gang terrorist group before Israel was established as a country.
Brand recognition…plain and simple. As a representative of the employer, the employee gives the impression that the employer condones whatever the cause. Like it or not, the flight attendant expresses the brand and intent of the employer by wearing the uniform. Whether the employer sanctions the flags or other personal decorations worn by its employees is up to the employer. I recall a flight attendant for Delta Air Lines removed all of the identifying labels on her uniform. She then made a very provocative pose aboard an empty aircraft. Besides making the pose on the company aircraft, she failed to note that the her uniform and the interior of the aircraft was distinctly a Delta brand. She was terminated and rightly so.
Exactly what did the flight attendant tell the Captain? And why didn’t the captain look into it before accusing and ordering the passenger off the plane. Seems that a quiet minute of conversation would convince the captain this is not a situation that called for such drastic measures. I’m basing this on what this report categorized as a flight attendants jumping the gun.
Peter,
I didn’t say there is a free speech protection applicable on the job for the employees of the airline. But the airlines allowing national flag pins should be allowing all national flag pins under a uniform standard so as not to discriminate on the basis of national identity affiliation and land themselves in trouble that way.
The First Amendment does not extend protection for free speech into the workplace. It protects free speech from government intervention. This interpretation and concept have been upheld by the courts. Many companies have policies stating an employee cannot distribute material, wear clothing, display items, or speak in ways advocating for or against social and political issues. The exception being a cause endorsed by the company such as United Way, Cancer Awareness, and so forth. I do not understand why airlines allow flight attendants to wear pins, place stickers on their travel bags and taking other actions advocating for one side of an issue knowing full well it causes discomfort and conflict with those customers who disagree. The workplace is not the location to create debate. As representatives of the company, employees are not entitled to take stances which some customers will find offensive. It does not matter which side of an issue is taken by the employee; it does not belong in the workplace. If the airlines would take the same step many other companies have taken with zero tolerance it would solve a lot of problems before they start.
If I see an Israeli flag pin on an airline’s customer-facing employee, I would assume it means at least one of three things: they speak Hebrew; they are Israeli; they support Israeli national aspirations in some way or another. In the case of a Palestinian flag pin, I would assume it’s sort of the same but that it’s at least one of three things: they speak Arabic (of the Palestinian dialect); they are Palestinian; or they support Palestinian national aspirations in some way or another.
About the airline banning the passenger who allegedly fussed over the airline employee’s national flag pin, my view on that is I am against common carriers’ ability to ban free people in the absence of there being a criminal conviction of relevance.
[removed – gl]
jns, national flags are always political. If an airline allows national flag pins for several nations or even that of their own nation, then they ought to have consistent rules about when and why other national flag pins are allowed or are not allowed.
@Gary says ‘I wouldn’t crack down on campus protests except to the extent that they interfere with the function of the university, preventing classes from being held etc’. Well what would be the point of that? The only way you can change behaviour is to ensure that continuation of that behaviour will cost you. The students are demanding that their universities divest from arms manufacturers that promote American-sponsored wars and, especially, divest from their holdings in Israeli companies in light of the Gaza atrocities committed by the IDF. Do you think these Zionist-controlled universities will do this if the students are meek and mild? Business may go on as usual for you but think of the people of Gaza bombed daily with American ordnance. Why are Palestinian children less worthy than yours to their right to life.
May AndyS’ unkind and angry heart be healed rather than meet karma and get the bodily outcome he wishes on others.
Unfortunately for her/him/it and their hatred of anti-racists, the only family history of cancer of any potential relevance to my health is one rather fast and painless cancer death of an ancestor who was closer to 100 years of age than 95 years of age.
I won’t kick the can anytime soon, AndyS; so go cry yourself to sleep and hope you wake up a little more at peace with yourself and the wonderfully diverse country and world.
@AndyS
Please get help.
@Indopithecus – student demands to ‘divest’ are silly, since they seem to center around index funds (and oddly they aren’t protesting their parents with index funds, nor are participating faculty protesting their own retirement accounts).
You give up the plot with silly statements like “Zionist-controlled universities”
Banned from JetBlue?
JetBlue Is becoming the Spirit of the moderately priced air carriers. Hopefully, bankruptcy will come their way soon.
What I do find interesting about some of this divestment stuff is that some want divestment from Boeing. [Boeing is a military contractor/supplier too.] And yet I have to assume many of these protesters calling for divestment against war suppliers are not going to stop flying on Boeing planes.
You mean that Jet Blue does not have a rule barring flight attendants from wearing garb or espousing views that will obviously offend some passengers???
But the BLM and the Antisemitic pins are normally worn together.
Oh wait, it is the Passenger’s fault????????
I flew Monday night from LAX to BUF on JetBlue. The flight left more or less on time and landed about 20 minutes before the listed gate arrival time. We got near the gate and were delayed due to not having a crew at the gate before 5am. We still pulled up to the gate 5 minutes early. The cabin crew was attentive, efficient and were smiling. I personally have nothing but good things to say about JetBlue. If they do go through bankruptcy, may the big four USA airlines go through it again first.
The passenger was full of it. This is not worth having an article on. Get a grip folks.
I am offended every time Trump hats are worn on a flight. I however just ignore the item and get on with life.
Good! Palestinians are humans too. Hamas killed 2K Jews. Hamas must be punished. Israel & Netanyahu & IDF have killed 37,000 (and counting) innocent Palestinians. Therefore, Israel, Netanyahu & IDF must be punished.
WoW look at the pin lineup on this worthless individual!
I do kind of appreciate these idiots who wear these things though as it gives me an instant indication of the loser that I’m dealing with and of course influences whatever courtesies that I would have extended toward them.
When I first started flying in the late 60’s, we were taught we were never to discuss politics with passengers, along with salaries and sexual issues. It was good advice back then and might be a good idea to think about going back to it.
I remember hearing the Pres of AA was ordering BLM pins for crew members. Why? to cause problems on the a/c? People are not happy campers these days and can go off on anything. Why subject any crew members or passengers to any of this? There is no reason for a crew member to be wearing any pin/s on the uniform or smock other than wings and name tag. It is like the airline is pushing potential negative interaction between passengers and crew.
Crew members today have their own opinions and they should be kept to themselves and not shared with passengers, even if asked. Any pin that has a political connotation to the organization they represent should not be worn by crew members while on duty and in uniform.
There are two issues here.
1. Palestine, two-state “solution”, Israeli war started by Hamas kidnap and killing or not.
2. Airline FA wearing a solidarity pin expressing her viewpoint.
This being VFTW I’ll address the second one only.
The FA is at work, wearing a uniform. If you’re unfamiliar, the term means “we all dress alike and we all act alike because we act on behalf of the airline not ourselves.”
The military uses uniforms for this reason. There’s no carve-out for “Oh but I really love terrorists so I’ll put on their flat.” The Police use uniforms. There’s no carve-out for “Yeah law and order is quaint but I really thinkg George Floyd doth protest too much about his lack of breathing.”
This JetBlue FA violated her company’s policy to STICK IT IN THE MAN’S FACE that SHE GETS TO TELL HIM HER POLITICAL VIEWPOINT and if he DARES TO SAY A WORD she’ll deboard him and cancel his return ticket.
Do you think it’s right?
I don’t think any on-duty JetBlue employee gets to throw their nuts in my face and dare me to disagree under penalty of being removed.
The right to freedom of speech ends when you USE YOUR POSITION TO FORCE that speech on others.
Normally a big fan of FAs… but this one wasn’t acting as an FA. She was a political spokesperson. As others have said, hope she works out well at McDonalds.
“The right to freedom of speech ends when you USE YOUR POSITION TO FORCE that speech on others.”?
Where do people come up with such weird concepts about what the right to freedom of speech is and is not?
Well, this situation is a case of whether or not an airline allows its employees to wear national flag pins and if and how much an airlines’ passengers are entitled to make drama over the national flag pin of an airline employee on airline property.
I’ve seen Spanish flag pins worn by some US airline FAs. Perhaps the Spanish flag “offends” some Moroccans because of Ceuta and Melilla or a bunch of indigenous Americans because of Spain’s colonial history. Should the Spanish national flag pin be disallowed because some passengers may want to make drama about it on a plane? Should the drama-making passenger on the plane be removed from the flight? Inquiring minds want to know what you think and why about such questions and see how consistent you are with standards (or desires for a standard). Or will this also be a case like it is with Florida and Texas where the governors and their supporters whined about “cancel culture” but have since gotten into the business of wanting to cancel opinions and related speech and expression with which they disagree?
And if the issue wasn’t a national flag pin but about religious jewelry or attire worn by an airline employee, would you take a position consistent with the one taken about national flag pins worn by airline employees?
Blm and pali flag pins.
Says everything I need to know about this baboon.
AndyS,
Did you have the faculties of a primitive primate “white supremacist” before or after attending to your first gathering of such losers? I hear those meetings are a place for insecure, hateful people with an inferiority complex and inferior mental faculties. Can’t say you’re an example to the contrary, but you’re welcome to work on your issues and to try to become a better person and show the world and the SPLC that there is hope for evolution.
I am surprised the pin bothered this customer so much. The yarmulke is worn by jews on the plane, a white cap is worn by Muslims in the plane, and does not bother anyone. I think this issue has more to do with the customer than with the flight attendant. .
Sorry, @GUW I’m really not understanding the whole argument about “airlines allow national flag pins.” I’m actually not aware of airlines that allow national flag pins as part of their uniform standards. Airlines have swapped out national flag pins for language bars when the context is, “I speak the language of xxx country.” If you’ve seen Spanish flag pins, it was either a while ago under different standards, or employees that should be wearing language bars, but are breaking the rules.
If y’all don’t like it, you can always fly private.
Language pins can include national flags. And it makes more sense to allow employees to have a flag pin to indicate a language capability on a language pin than to not have a national flag on such pins too.
@Tim Or just not fly Jet Blue. Seems like they won’t be around for much longer anyway.
Why have all the BLM folks moved on to Palestine, you hear lots of anti-western language especially using the “colonial” term. It’s all basically communist propaganda spread through TikTok in my opinion. Hopefully that gets shut down soon.
“One wears the pin to represent “from the river to the sea” Jews will be cleansed, and the land will be Palestinians. At a minimum the frequency with which this message is attached to the symbol means it’s likely to be understood this way.”
Really? Is this what you all are claiming now? That the Palestinian flag itself is antisemitic? I suppose watermelons are antisemitic now too? Talk about a slippery slope.
I find this post deeply troubling. First let me lay out where I think the author and me might find agreement before identifying what I thought was problematical.
. “It is possible to wear a Palestinian flag and believe you’re advocating for two states.” I agree.
. Wearing the Palestinian flag might also suggest that the wearer adheres to the “From the River to the sea” ideology. I agree that this is possible. But it’s certainly not a foregone conclusion.
. “There’s this weird idea that’s somehow become popular about ‘bringing your whole self to work.’ That’s dumb.” I believe that is absolutely correct.
. The author also suggests that JetBlue’s reaction was over the top. I agree with this as well.
Here’s where my disagreements arise:
. “That isn’t usually what it means. One wears the [Palestinian flag] pin to represent ‘from the river to the sea’ Jews will be cleansed, and the land will be Palestinians. At a minimum the frequency with which this message is attached to the symbol means it’s likely to be understood this way.”
I believe this is absurd. According to Wikipedia, “The Palestinian flag in its current form has been used in Palestine since the 1920s…” It’s hard to believe that a national flag from before Israel was formed was conceived of as a symbol for erasing an entire people at its origination. While it may have morphed into that in some, or even many, instances, it is still the defining symbol for a group that wishes statehood. Indeed, I can think of no other symbol that would better represent Palestinians as a people. So if someone wants to silently show their support for this group, what, dear author, would you suggest would be an alternative to this flag?
. “The problem here isn’t speech, it’s asymmetric speech (free speech for me, but not for thee…)” Free speech? Really? Arguments about free speech are typically grounded in its guarantee in the U.S. Bill of Rights. But this guarantee protects citizens from actions to limit speech **by its government, not from private actors.** There is no “right” to free speech on an airplane, or frankly in any private business. Indeed, the author’s own arguments support limitations on “free” speech on an airplane: “Air travel brings people together from all walks of life, having good days and bad days, and traps them inside of a metal tube for hours at a time. That can already be combustible.” Do any of us want free speech if the person next to us is arguing that abortion should (or shouldn’t) be freely available, that Christianity is a dumb religion, or that Trump is a great (or horrible) candidate? I think not. All of us should be circumspect in our comments when we are packed cheek-to-jowl with a bunch of strangers.
. “Bringing crewmember politics onto the aircraft, and forcing passengers to remain silent…” Is wearing a flag pin that appeared to measure less than one inch square really bringing politics onto a flight? C’mon. If I wear the Iron Cross does that mean I’m in favor of the holocaust? Does your opinion change once you are told that this is the current symbol of the German federal army? What if I’m of Cuban descent and weak the Cuban flag? Does that make me a communist? Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Bottom line none of us know what transpired on this flight. What we do know is that a passenger took offense at a crew member wearing a fairly innocuous pin. If that is so bad, then wouldn’t that justify some other passenger taking offense to a different crew member wearing a pin of the flag of Israel? The passenger, in my observation, was out of line. The airline’s response may have been out of line, too. But we would all be better off if we just chilled out and let trivial issues like this roll off our back.
Nick, TikTok is capitalism on steroids. And “Communist China” is rather capitalistic except that the state wants to make sure the Party boss and Party boss favorites get a share of the spoils and can try to show the companies who is the boss. Not so different than Florida under Party rule — Republican Party rule — when it comes to say Disney.
I firmly believe that the workplace is not synonymous with one’s social circle or familial gatherings. Instead, it’s a dedicated space where individuals come together to contribute their skills, expertise, and efforts towards shared goals and objectives. As such, it’s imperative to uphold certain boundaries and standards of conduct that facilitate effective collaboration and mutual respect.
By maintaining a professional demeanor at work, we create an environment conducive to productivity, innovation, and growth. It allows us to focus on the task at hand without unnecessary distractions or disruptions. Moreover, it fosters a sense of trust and reliability among team members, thereby enhancing overall morale and performance.
Of course, this is not to suggest that one should completely suppress their personality or individuality in the workplace. On the contrary, diversity of thought and perspective is invaluable in driving creativity and problem-solving. However, there is a distinction between being authentic and bringing every aspect of one’s personal life into the professional realm.
I see people wearing Israeli lapel pins — I dont complain….Israel sucks, but its a free country ..so he shouldve minded his own business….and just went to his suite and enjoyed his trip.
@GUtlessWonder – Wrong state. You meant to say Delaware and “10% for the Big Guy.”
DeSantis might be many things, there’s no evidence he’s been picking up bag of cash via his children and brother. As opposed to, you know…
A pin with a country’s flag isn’t “anti-Semitic” at all.
On a related note… it’s not anti-Semitic to criticize the Israeli government, just like how it’s not Islamophobic to criticize the Iranian or Saudi Arabian governments.
It’s never wrong to protest guided munitions from 30,000 feet slaughtering thousands of children. If we don’t steal it then someone else will come and steal it has been a brutal enforced policy for 75 years. Even Jews are organizing pro Palestine gatherings. Genocidals should be banned from travel, except one way tickets to the Netherlands. All war criminals to the Hauge.
I wouldn’t want those nails anywhere near my food or drink. How can those be sanitary after wiping???? I just chalk the pin up to pure ignorance, same as BLM pins. The overall IQ of Americans has dipped and companies have a hard time hiring quality anymore.
@Gary Leff, I think you are losing the plot here. In your original post you wrote:
“There’s this weird idea that’s somehow become popular about ‘bringing your whole self to work.’ That’s dumb. I certainly don’t bring my whole self to the office, it’s work not friends and family, and it’s a place to be professional. We’re there to do a job not to kibbitz.”
I think that perspective is completely correct.
However, “View from the Wing” is YOUR office, a place where readers should expect you to not bring your “…Whole self to…” Instead, readers should expect you to “…Do a job, not… kibbitz,” a term which Merriam-Webster defines as “[To] look on and often offer unwanted advice or comment.” Yet you have written in the comments to the original post the following:
“I agree there is ‘limited respect for freedom of expression’ generally. I am concerned with governments restrict it [sic]. I long for the days when the ACLU championed speech, such as the Skokie case and the right of Nazis to march.”
“Student demands to ‘divest’ [from Israel] are silly.”
“I wasn’t a fan of the current Israeli administration. It’s no secret why the politics of Israel were driven away from peacemakers like Yitzak Rabin [sic], Ehud Olmert, and Ehud Barak. Their proposals to create an independent Palestinian state and to swap current Israeli land to include in that state were met with violence. Netanyahu is the direct result of Palestinian violence. And October 7th was clearly meant to blow up peace in the region, with Israel and Saudi Arabia on the verge of normalized relations.”
“It’s hard to know during war who is a civilian and who is a combatant when Hamas hides amongst civilians and uses them as human shields.”
Last time I looked VFTW was a blog about the airline industry. Yet you are actively participating in turning it into a discussion on topics far afield of that mandate. In one sentence you castigate the FA for “Bring[ing her] whole self to the office,” and in the next sentence basically do the same thing yourself. There’s a word for that behavior (spoiler alert: it ain’t kibbitz).
Swiss-cheese-brained posters (you know, people like me) are going to write all sorts of silliness in the comments section of posts like this. It’s questionable whether we should but, to be blunt, this isn’t our workplace so what the he**. However, this is YOUR workplace and you are therefore held to a higher standard. How ’bout you consider stopping the polemics about one Yitzhak vs. another and get back to writing about the topics that are actually germane to this blog.
Have you forgotton DEI policies at work? “They” have absolutely required “bring your whole self/identity to work”. It’s a good thing remember?
An update to the story:
https://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2024/05/jetblues-new-policy-after-flight-crew-lied-about-jewish-passenger-.html
JetBlue responds to me:
As New York’s Hometown Airline, we are proud of our long history welcoming customers of different backgrounds and faiths from around the world. JetBlue does not tolerate discriminatory conduct, and we are committed to providing a respectful and welcoming environment for all our customers and crewmembers. We are taking this matter very seriously and conducting a full investigation into our crewmembers’ actions. We will take appropriate action once our investigation is complete as a result of non-compliance with any JetBlue policies.
At JetBlue, our #1 value is safety, and it guides every decision JetBlue makes. Our crewmembers should be focused on the safety of our flights and delivering a great customer experience. We have changed our uniform policy to make clear that on board the aircraft is not the right place for crewmembers to advocate positions on certain issues or political topics. Going forward crewmembers will only be permitted to wear pins approved or issued by JetBlue.
We had previously identified that our pin policy, which had dated back many years and allowed crewmembers to wear one unoffensive personal pin of their choice, needed to be updated to reflect the current environment. In light of this incident, we urgently expedited this change.
We have reached out to listen to Mr. Faust and offer our apologies for the breakdown in our policies during his flight. We hope with these actions we can welcome him back onto a JetBlue flight in the future.
Regards
Annie
JetBlue, Manager Customer Support
It would be reasonable to object to an airline employee wearing a Nazi flag pin – freedom of speech notwithstanding. While a Palestinian flag may be less objectionable, it’s not by much less. After all, most Palestinians SUPPORT HAMAS, who in this day and age are as close as it gets to Nazis, killing innocent civilians indiscriminately, raping women, and being treated as heroes. So, no, it is not equivalent to wearing Israeli flag pin, or one of any other civilized country. Still, it was wise of Jetblue to ban any pins not distributed or specifically approved by them, and let’s hope they stick to it and other airlines follow.