A United Airlines flight attendant encouraged a passenger to report one of their fellow crewmembers to the airline – and put the request in writing. That’s because the flight attendant reportedly declared, “I’m not making any Spanish announcements because this is America.”
I was on a flight this morning on @united UA2431 from Houston [to Los Angeles] and this nasty woman was so unprofessional and clearly let her personal views on certain humans seep out of her pores, leading her to believe she can get away with this behavior.
Well, she cannot.
I ask her co-worker for her name.
He gave me this note.
I took his name out to protect his identity.
I will be reporting her to @united.
At United saying that sex is unchangeable can get you fired, and flight attendants are encouraged to share their pronouns. While the airline is now trying to curry favor with the Trump administration, it is the the most ‘woke’ of the U.S. carriers.
However, even in the Trump era, this flight attendant’s statement would be offensive to many – not what a company wants their employee to be saying. And it seems like a silly statement in any case,
- There are routes where multiple language announcements are often made.
- United is a global carrier.
- On domestic routes they bring connecting passengers to and from their long haul flights.
- And they use joint ventures and their alliance membership to attract foreign passengers for their U.S. travels.
Announcements are meant to be understood, so they’re frequently tailored to whomever the clientele may be. I listen to English announcements on foreign carriers all the time, and I appreciate the English, though I could use a translation app on my phone if I needed to. Here it’s a flight between two states that border Mexico.
Usually flight crew stick together. Here, a United flight attendant saw their colleague’s behavior as so far out of bounds that they encouraged a passenger to report it. United’s discipline of other flight crew suggests this might get some management attention. However, it might carry even more weight coming from another employee than from a customer – and the flight attendant who complains about having to work with her for the next two days commits to reporting her as well.
This was a domestic flight. No Spanish announcement is needed. If it were international coming from a Spanish speaking country, sure! But this is Houston to LA. What was this person expecting? Ridiculous
Worth noting that not making announcements in Spanish puts every passenger at risk. During the recent Delta crash it appeared that the successful evacuation saved the lives of many; had some passengers not understood the crew it’s very possible that a different outcome could have occurred. Politicizing air travel security is a very very bad idea.
If you’d like a thoughtful, elevated guest experience in the sky, please consider Delta.
Regardless of the safety of making or not making the announcement, saying you’re not going to do it because it’s America is creating a hostile work environment for your coworkers.
As for using your phone to translate announcements from a foreign language while flying – good luck with that. Your phone is almost certainly going to filter out what you’re trying to translate as background noise.
I have never heard a US airline make announcements in Spanish on a domestic flight (unless to Puerto Rico) in 40 years of extensive travel. Talking about outrage looking for a cause!
This assumes any of it is true.
If I were the FA, I would defend my comment by saying “company policy is not to make Spanish announcement for flights that originate and terminate within US, hence my ‘this is America’ statement was factually correct.
Delta ofrece una experiencia premium
Spanish seems to have become the secondary default language of the US, a situation entirely arising from the influx of illegal immigrants. What if there was a French speaker onboard, or someone who only understood Farsi? Would the note-writer have been so quick to be involved?
By adding “I am 100% Mexican” on the note to the passenger, the FA also let her personal views “seep out of her pores”. Admittedly the FA who made the announcement should have refrained, but the note writer is also out of line.
There’s always someone looking for an excuse to be outraged. There should be no expectation that Spanish be spoken on a domestic flight.
Dear Mental Midgets that contend this was a domestic flight so no need for other languages to be used: I know your head is empty but try and consider 1) people connect from international flights, 2) people from other countries come here for business and/or holiday, 3) if you ever left this 3rd world shithole country you would know airlines give announcements in multiple languages.
No to spanish announcements.
Yes to russian annoucements.
Is the Putin’s bitch making АМЕРИКА great again…
Spanish is the dominant language in Puerto Rico, and it is used in business, education, and daily life.
@Ray. So announcements on U.S. domestic flights should also be made in French, German, Portuguese, Chinese (2 or 3 dialects), and 27 other languages just in case someone who might speak one of those languages might be onboard??? English is a fairly common language throughout the world.
@Ricardo — Bitch is your boyfriend if you have one, if not than call your mother a bitch. You’re welcome!
Nothing can or will legally come of this for the purser- and rightfully so. This is clearly an alleged ‘he said , she said’ event. If anything, UA should be scrutinizing the FA who wrote the suggestive note which appears to have more nefarious intent. I’m curious to know what the chief complaint from the passenger was because if it was truly for the alleged comment about there being ‘no Soanish announcements because this is America’, the passenger wouldn’t have needed the suggestion as it would have been their purpose for complaining. This has all indications of a disgruntled and dissatisfied fFA attempting to undercut a more senior employee and it’s anyone’s guess what the motive or motives might be.To be quite honest, if anything, UA should be investigating the FA who wrote the note for potential wrongful accusations and jeopardizing the employment of a fellow crew member.
Morever, if I were to make any assumptions in this matter, using only the picture of the purser provided, I would guess that she does not speak, nor is she a fluent Spanish speaker – I could be wrong. But given the fact this is a flight between two border cities and that passenger safety cards are in both English and Spanish, the liklihood of the Purser making such a comment seems very unlikely. And I can’t quite make it out well enough but is that a crucifix on her necklace? What better time is there than the current day to launch dishonest allegations against a caucasian Christian woman?
If I were the purser, I’d take this and drop in right in the lap of an attorney that practices in civil rights in the workplace for defamation of character, potential racism & anti-caucasian actions and any other potential illegalities that might be applicable. I would sue for every last penny that might be awarded and further seek the termination of the FA who wrote the suggestive note.
Beyond this, any employer that terminates an employee for stating objective facts such as, ‘sex is unchangeable’ should be heavily reprimanded. I don’t know about others but speaking for myself, I would prefer that all flight crews be of sound mind, living in the real world – not some false reality that an individual might create for themselves. Because what greater truth is there than that biological sex is unchangeable? While on duty, a FA’s first and foremost priority is passenger safety, not focusing on being who or what they are not. That is what personal time and life are for.
In 53 years I have never once heard flight announcements in Spanish, and I’ve lived in California and Texas. Was what the purser said obnoxious? Sure. Did it put passengers at risk? Absolutely not. Flights out of DFW theoretically should include probably 15 different languages, if this were a necessity.
This was in fact a domestic flight from Houston to Los Angeles. ENGLISH is the official language of the USA and everyone intelligent KNOWS it always has been. There’s no requirement to make announcements in other languages for domestic flights.
When I travel in other countries, sometimes signs/announcements are in English and sometimes they’re not. I’m not going to complain about it. After all, I’m merely a tourist/guest just passing through. I’ll figure things out on my own like I always do.
I live in Los Angeles. California is a high immigrant state due to both legal and illegal immigration. The local DMV has written tests and study materials available in 20+ languages! The high cost to do this is totally absurd.
Some of you would be shocked by the number of people residing in CA for years that don’t speak English. If you’ve been residing in any country for 10, 20, 30+ years and STILL don’t speak the local language, SHAME ON YOUI.
Welp, late to the party on this one, but @OnePatriot77 is correct, according to the President’s executive order dated March 1, 2025, English is now the official language of the USA.
So, at the very least, all announcements on US domestic flights should be in English, as they were already anyway, and if an airline wants to offer additional languages, then I do not see why that is a problem, regardless of whether it is a domestic or international flight.
Since English is practically the international language of business these days–most airlines, worldwide, at least provide announcements in English. We are very fortunate to speak that language. I do admire those who are multi-lingual as it is a real talent.
But I do disagree with OnePatriot77 on costs–translation services cost next to nothing these days thanks to technology, so it’s not ‘absurd’ at all.
And of course, I disagree with OnePatriot77 that everyone in the US has must speak any particular language, but the government and businesses that serve the public must at least provide English–as for visitors or citizens alike, no, you cannot compel anyone to speak (thanks to our Constitution, 1st Amendment), even in the official language, so that would be actually absurd.
@Matt — Bah! Good one. I do like me some Delta.
@Ricardo — Ooo spicy! Do svidaniya, comrade!
@OnePatriot77 — Respectfully, sir, to be careful with your anger towards non-English speakers. Just because there’s an Executive Order, it does not mean you have the ‘right’ to berate anyone who isn’t speaking English. Based on your ‘attitude’ here, you do sound like someone who is going to yell at them anyway. And that is the ultimate problem with this ‘culture war’ nonsense–it isn’t designed to help–it’s meant to enflame tensions. Clearly, it’s already having that desired effect. *sigh*
I agree with the flight attendant I fly frequently to Miami and have never heard an announcement in Spanish. only problem comes when you leave the airport…..
@Miikey — What’s the “problem”? An ‘official language’ does not mean all people must to speak it–the E.O. means the government (and likely businesses that serve the public) are supposed to.
Does voting Republican require an empty brain pan? More and more it appears so.
@Richard — Apparently, it requires the absence of empathy. It’s ironic that the party is comprised of theocrats…who apparently forgot about the ‘golden rule’ and nearly all the teachings of their savior, except for the one where so long as they ‘believe’ then they can ‘sin’ as much as they’d like. Hmm.
@1990 you are misunderstanding me or just being hypersensitive. I’m an veteran , patriot, multi-lingual and a chill easy going guy. I’m not angry and I’m definitely not a yeller!
You are completely wrong on the costs for translation services. The DMV isn’t going to use something like Google Translate to create foreign language driving manuals. The high costs are the legal fees, printing costs, and hiring extra staff that are multi-lingual.
As a practical matter, I simply believe people should speak the official language of the country they reside in. My opinion pre-dates the recent Executive Order. The truth is, some people are lazy and unmotivated to learn a new language. By not learning the local language they are doing a disservice to themselves and everyone around them. They are the reason why when I telephone an American corporation I must often “press 1 for English”….
@OnePatriot77 – fellow Californian here. Unless you’re referring to live translation services, the printed materials costs incurred by DMV are all sunk costs now. Pennies on the dollar now since the ramp-up phase is long past