Flight attendants ask travelers to stop feeling frustrated

• Flight attendants said they wanted frustrated passengers to stop getting angry with airline workers.
• The Flight Attendants Association reported that 85% of workers encountered unruly passengers in 2021.
• Flight attendants said the assault on passengers resulted in burnout and worsening mental health.

Since air travel rebounded this spring with increased vaccinations, flight attendants have said they have encountered more aggressive passengers than before the pandemic.

The vast majority of flight attendants – 85% – said they had dealt with unruly passengers since the start of the year, according to a 5,000-person survey by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA.

A Chicago-based flight attendant said part of her job is figuring out that she never knows why someone is stealing; she does not know if they are flying on a vacation or a funeral. She therefore tries to be patient with all her passengers.

But she said the same patience is “never” extended to flight attendants.

“It’s hard not to be seen as a human being at work, you are seen as an entity,” the Chicago-based flight attendant told Insider. “I am the face of the airline and for people to voice all their grievances to me directly, when in reality there is little I can do.”

Five flight attendants told Insider they want airline passengers to stop venting their frustration on them. Most of the flight attendants requested to remain anonymous so that they could speak freely. Insider has confirmed their identity and employment.

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A New York-based flight attendant said disagreements over mask wearing not only caused the abuse, but heated political events like the 2020 election may have angered passengers.

Harvard psychologist Luana Marques recently said Insider’s Avery Hartmans passengers may be more aggressive right now due to collective fear and anxiety over the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year and half.

A Boston-based flight attendant said she can understand passengers feeling frustrated by the patchwork mask rules and the ongoing pandemic, but urged passengers not to express their anger at her and the other workers.

She said she used to have more fun at work by traveling and interacting with passengers, but since passenger violence has skyrocketed, she feels exhausted and anxious about going to work.

“I still think it’s a great job to do, but it’s like it’s worth being a victim of possible abuse, is it worth not being supported by your business, it’s worth it it is worth being almost humiliated when you ask for personal time? ” she said.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Flight attendants told Insider that the harassment took a toll on their mental health. Nas Lewis, a Chicago-based flight attendant and founder of the airline worker mental health resource th | AIR | apy, said she saw an increase in activity this summer due to the passenger violence.

Lewis said flight attendants posted photos of themselves crying to the th | AIR | apy Facebook group and some revealed they self-harm.

A Texas-based flight attendant said she deliberately did not work in parts of the plane that she knows will suffer the most abuse. She said she was called a “bitch”, cursed and told to “watch her” by aggressive passengers.

She said passengers could be more aggressive in the air due to frustration over the pandemic. The flight attendant said passengers may feel “emboldened” to act aggressively due to the lack of consequences unruly travelers face.

The AFA called on the Justice Department and the FAA to intervene more often in incidents of passenger violence. According to the AFA survey, 71% of flight attendants who filed incident reports received no follow-up and a majority “did not observe their employers’ efforts to deal with the problem. increase in the number of unruly passengers “.

“All of the customers signed an agreement saying they would play by the rules when they buy their ticket, and I’ll just ask them to follow it. It’s really simple,” said the based flight attendant. in Texas. “We don’t want to fight over it every minute.”