Dear Flight Attendants: the unruly, violent behavior exhibited on so many of our flights these days is appalling. On behalf of a better version of America, we are sorry. You. Deserve. Better.
The heightened cultural, political, and socio-economic state of our country has created a melting pot of tension anger, bitterness, frustration, anxiety, mistrust, and more and that pot is boiling over. People from all walks of life, party, social class, race, gender and any other way you can categorize “us” are boiling over.
And some of us are behaving badly in the air. Very badly.
As has been widely reported, unruly passenger incidents are (sadly) setting new records. Oftentimes these incidents are related to mask-wearing. Only recently we saw an American Airlines flight attendant sent to the hospital with a broken nose after being violently attacked by a passenger.
This has got to stop.
We will say it again. This. Has. Got. To. Stop.
Listen, we get it. Wearing a mask sucks. Especially on a 5-hour flight. No one likes that.
But, that is no excuse to punch a flight attendant.
Sure, there are many reasons to get upset about any number of things in our society right now. Maybe, for some, it’s that people are NOT wearing masks. For others, it’s that people are still being forced TO wear masks. Maybe you are upset about the inconsistent messaging and, at times, hypocritical behavior of government officials. Or maybe you are upset because your neighbor is still flying his Trump flag and won’t wear his mask when he checks his mail. Or that you have to get a shot. Or that you don’t have to get one.
So yeah, we get it. There’s plenty of reasons to get upset no matter what your economic status is. Or your race, or your gender, or party, or job status. Or whatever.
But, we can’t seem to find any good reasons to punch a flight attendant. You know why? Because there are none.
Pardon our French, but f**king grow up.
So yes, Flight Attendants. We are sorry. You deserve so much better.
Signed,
The Better Version of America (you know, the one where we were kind to each other despite our differences. The one where we didn’t punch flight attendants)
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2 comments
I’m sorry. Until they treat people better than cattle, I’m not confident people will treat them any better.
American Airlines has an employee culture problem. America has a societal problem that is evident in both its passengers and crew.
Things won’t get better until we treat one another with respect both inside and outside the airplane. We need to start holding people accountable for their actions and issue stern punishment for those who break the rules.
Agreed, unfortunately. While OP is absolutely correct, there simply must be repercussions that are unpleasant enough to deter people from doing awful things. In the case cited here, I’d say that criminal charges, civil charges, and a lifetime no-fly membership for every US airline sounds about right. One of these days, some person with a similar mentality is going to succeed in bringing a gun aboard, with tragic results.