A passenger on a January 15th United Airlines flight from New York LaGuardia to Chicago O’Hare took to social media to decry a flight attendant “dressed as part of a terrorist group.” The attire is not that of a terrorist group as such, and the passenger is being called out as racist.
Alleged United cabin crew makes racist and xenophobic comments about fellow crew member….white flying for free.
byu/SatisfactionDapper7 inflightattendants
Aviation watchdog JonNYC notes that the person who took the photo appears to be a United Airlines retiree, “I’m guessing she’s gonna lose nonrev privileges.” One commenter notes, “the union and management is now involved and it’s being actively investigated.”
When making these sorts of claims, it’s important to be right. I don’t like the uniform standards that allow this – I see it as unprofessional and inconsistent with the desired look for the airline. It also stands out as different and draws too much attention to the individual crewmember. But that doesn’t associate them with terrorism. That’s an unfair charge.
Far more fair, I think, to criticize other employees that United Airlines has defended. For instance, while Delta and JetBlue have changed their policies to forbid Palestinian flag pins, United Airlines defends cabin crew wearing Palestinian flag pins as ‘designating language skills’ even though ‘Palestinian’ isn’t a language, it’s not clear that those wearing the pins necessarily speak Arabic, and it’s not a standard designator for those who do.
While cabin crew express their views on the conflict in the region inside a metal tube, they do so while exercising power over passengers. It isn’t free speech, it’s asymmetric speech. And it goes even further. After initially imposing a suspension, United refused to say whether a pilot who celebrated the atrocities committed by Hamas on 10/7 still flies for them.
There’s little question that the civilian plight that existed in Gaza is heartbreaking, though as the Current Thing it gets far more attention than perhaps the world’s greatest refugee crisis in Syria where over half the nation’s Muslims were forced to leave their homes. It is more difficult to use the situation in Syria as a bludgeon against Israel and Jews. Meanwhile, every statement about the plight in Gaza should accurately end with “because of Hamas.”
“social media erupts”. Who tf cares. Nobody give af about your outrage and grievance politics anymore.
@Mantis
Missed you! Well said, sir. No one cares about you (or I) and that’s just fine. But since we’re here, it’s kinda fun, isn’t it?
The keffiyeh is worn prominently by Hamas, Hezbollah, and the PLO. These groups have been designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. and EU. It is quite literally terrorist attire.
In my opinion, allowing non-standard uniform accents that favor some tribe or culture is a direct outgrowth of having the company’s HQ in Chicago.
Chicago is a very uber liberal place with a leftwing culture.
A proper uniform should look professional, not like a 3rd world country.
Shame on United and in particular their HR Dept. for condoning this appearance.
Hey Scott Kirby, move the company HQ to Denver where you already own the property to build facilities. A Red State would be preferable, but United has no hubs in any of them.
Keep it simple. Just wear the uniform on the job. Wanna support causes? Do it outside of business hours.
@Arrowspace90
Perhaps they consult with Hugo Boss; that company has a ‘great’ history of anti-woke uniforms…
UA has a hub at IAH which is in a state that is red at least for now.
Bizarre and purposefully twisted rationalizations of this above, akin to saying that swastikas armbands should be allowed to be worn on planes because it is a buddhist symbol of peace, despite the fact that we know that people outside of Asia where it primarily to show solidarity or identification as a Neo-Nazi.
This is not ok in the United States, where this is not traditional dress but worn by people to show solidarity with groups officially designated as “terrorist groups” under United States Law which commit acts of murder, rape, and kidnapping against Jews and Israelis, recently committed the largest mass murder of Jewish people since the Holocaust, call for acts of murder against Jews around the world, and regularly harass Jews in North America and Europe. So this person wasn’t wearing this keffiyah in it’s allegedly traditional use to herd sheep in a pasture in the Levant, but as a symbol to confront Israelis, Jews, and their supporters in the United States generally and on this airplane specifically. United has an ethical duty to make all of their passengers comfortable, and shouldn’t allow this for the same reason they wouldn’t allow somebody to wear Ku Klux Klan garb or a Nazi armband, but United also has a legal responsibility under the US civil rights laws to make their service available to all people and not to allow them to be harassed on the basis of factors including race, religion, or nationality. It is a highly privileged position to look at this simply as “Jordanian” garb, but those subject to the hatred and harassment of this person, and/or the murder, rape, torture, kidnapping that this person expresses solidarity with, do not have that luxury. This is outrageous and illegal, should be reported to the Department of Transportation Civil Rights hotline, and certainly should not be permitted by United.
It is a terrorist outfit. people need to keep their political views separate from their work. Especially when you are customer facing
They’re always asking ‘who’s akbar’? Like, why they keep shoutin’ bout that guy. Isn’t he the fish-fella from Star Wars? ‘It’s a trap!’
Staff who speak Arabic should be allowed to wear a Palestinian flag pin. If you don’t, that could result in some staff banned from wearing a pin of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and forcing them to wear a flag of mainland China. That might even be like banning the US flag and saying that English speakers wear the flag of the Socialist Republic of Guyana
This crop of post pandemic new hires is something. I suspect the FA in question was trying to stay warm and didn’t think things through.
Sitting on a jumpseat during critical phases of flight wrapped in blankets or wearing coats and gloves. Keeping ear buds in the entire flight and deciding 75 minutes isn’t enough time for a full beverage service is the new normal everywhere.
Gary,
First with respect to Gaza, Israel and the Palestinian people there is enough blame going back years to spread among all involved. The reasons that terror organizations emerge don’t happen overnight.
Misinformation, mistreatment, you can build a library on reasons.
It just takes unhappy people, a leadership that will lie and stir up ignorant dupes and create flash points.
Terrorist organizations are not and never should be approved.
That said, Trump flags, MAGA hats , etc after Jan 6 make me more uncomfortable. That was a domestic terrorism event and even with all the self pardoning going on, it was still an insurrection.
So the option seems to be Ban everything or quit worrying the small stuff.
@derek
Ah, another typo. I think you meant ‘West Taiwan,’ not ‘mainland’ China.
I still don’t get this article. Is the person standing an FA? It seems really unprofessional to wear anything other than what is provided by the airline. This is not Chilis. Flair is not a thing for an FAA safety official.
And if you were to wear religious headdress, the airline should provide it to you so that your entire outfit is coordinated.
Hamas is not the cause of the problems of the Palestinian ppl. Hamas has a lot of shovels and really loves digging the ditch deeper for the ppl they supposedly support but it’s not like the Palestinians lived in Disneyland before 10/7 or before Hamas was voted in.
Can we all get back to bashing the AA FA union? This article is a downer.
@Joseph
I’ll bite. Unions are good for workers. Corruption is bad. Pay crews more. Let’s go!
Fire this thing and return it to Starbucks where it belongs and where wearing a Papa Gino’s tablecloth is welcomed.
Evil terrorists. Wear work uniforms to work. COMMON SENSE. Duh. Wear your terrorist gear on your own time. And hopefully then do time.
@derek, there are tons of Countries in The World where Arabic is the national language. So the FA can wear a pin of a flag from Saudi Arabia,Jordan,Lebanon,Eqypt.UAE etc etc wearing a palestian pin for which there is no such Country is a political statement, period
Arguably, the AFA-CWA is the true terrorist organisation with their threats of C.H.A.O.S. and similar industrial action intended to scare passengers away from flying certain airlines. By that logic, anyone in a United crew uniform is wearing terrorist attire.
@derek The “Palestinian” Flag is not a flag of any actual nation and never has been. Rather, it is a symbol calling for violence against Jews and Israelis. If somebody wants to indicate that they speak Arabic, and actual national flag – like the flag of Saudi Arabia – would be appropriate. Using the “Palestinian” Flag to indicate you speak Arabic is like using the Nazi Flag to indicate you speak German.
Keffiyehs are not terrorist attire, they are worn throughout the Middle East. The red one pictured is most likely from Jordan, which has been a staunch ally of the United States for over 60 years. They are also common in Saudi Arabia and Oman. Vladimir Putin wears a suit and tie, and is a nasty dictator but that does not mean suits and ties are “dictator attire.”
@Richard Schumann “Keffiyehs are not terrorist attire, they are worn throughout the Middle East.”
Keffiyehs are worn in the middle east the same way that swastikas are worn in Asia as a Buddhist symbol of peace. But in the United States and Europe both are worn to indicate solidarity with racism and prejudice and confrontation with hated minorities.
Incidentally, these are worn in Jordan because Jordan is the Arab part of the Partition of British Palestine, and this style of headcovering was introduced by the British from imported English textiles from the North of England. The coverings in Oman are quite different and are essentially the same as those worn in Yemen.
Uniforms indicate you are not being served by this or that person, from this or that group, part of this or that religion, supporting this or that group. Uniforms indicate you are being served by United Airlines. It is a sign of lack of standards and of unprofessionalism when public facing employees don’t wear uniforms.
Really, because of Hamas doesn’t absolve the Israeli govt of dropping bombs on children, terrorist in the building or not. The IDF knows terrorist are in the building and the number they kill, then they surely know children are residing there too.. Now if they want to be Russia, be Russia, kill everyone in the room, and then blame the victim.
On a side note, the IDF change their policy which allows for more civilian deaths when combating the enemy. Facts
Think about that, people were called antisemitic for voicing concerns over yhe deaths of the innocent, when all along the IDF knew they were killing more civilians under a secret change in policy.
Remember, unless you work for the govt, you can be fired over free speech. Don’t be a fool.
@David “People were called antisemitic for voicing concerns over yhe deaths of the innocent, when all along the IDF knew they were killing more civilians under a secret change in policy.”
Harassing and violating the Civil Rights of American Jews on a plane traveling between New York and Chicago because you don’t like what (you claim) Jews are doing in Israel is the very definition of antisemitism because it assumes that people have guilt by virtue of their heritage and nationality. Nobody would think it would make sense to protest Russian Americans in the United States because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. If you justify your protest against people in the United States based upon their race, you are in fact an antisemite.
The ratio of civilian to combatant fatalities in the conflict with Hamas is one of the lowest in modern warfare by several orders of magnitude.
Ok, @Mark, I’m not saying antisemitism doesn’t exist, not in the least bit. But every time someone challenged Israeli policy, the first words out were usually, “you’re an antisemite.” As if Israelis and American Jews are the same peopleprotesting one is not a protest against the other), not to mention, “You don’t hold others to the same standards.” Hogwash. The US is responsible for 100s of thousands of premature deaths as a result of the Iraqi war. We’re guilty.
And Gary, half the deaths in Gaza are of women, children and old people (UN). I know, the UN is biased,but a dead body of a women, child or an old person is a dead body.
Thel Israeli govt pr office calls everyone an antisemitie to muddy the waters and stiffle discussion.
I feel for the Israeli govt for having to fight a difficult war, but don’t piss down my leg and tell me it’s raining.
Walks like a duck and dresses like a duck needs to be shot like a duck.
This isn’t the Middle East.
@David: Does it hurt when you think?
The reason civilians get killed is because Hamas hides amongst them on purpose. They are trying to use them as human shields. With an IQ < 4 I am sure you cannot understand that.
@ 1990
You make all these liberal noises & then make an offensive joke that would get you expelled from the college you likely attended.
Where did you come from or are you the old/new GU? All of sudden you are everywhere on this blog.