United Airlines will continue to allow flight attendants and other customer-facing employees to wear Palestine flag pins on their uniforms despite facing backlash from a prominent antisemitism lobby group that has described the controversial badges as “divisive.”
The Chicago-based carrier was blasted by the group ‘StopAntisemitism’ after a flight attendant was spotted wearing a Palestine flag pin on a recent flight from its O’Hare hub but United has refused to back down and is standing firm behind its uniform policy.
On Wednesday, the airline said it will continue to allow staffers, including flight attendants and gate agents, to wear flag pins that either designate a language they speak or which represent “pride in a place to which they may have a special connection.”
“StopAntisemitism is alarmed by the rising trend of US airline employees displaying Palestinian flags and keffiyehs while on duty,” slammed the group’s founder Liora Rez after photos emerged of a United flight attendant wearing the flag pin on the Newark-bound flight.
“Political stances belong off the clock. Airlines must ensure that passengers aren’t confronted with divisive symbols in what should be a neutral space,” Rez continued.
United’s stance is in stark contrast to how JetBlue and Delta Air Lines responded to allegations of antisemitism after their employees were spotted wearing Palestine flag pins.
In May, JetBlue hastily rewrote its uniform policy to prohibit staffers from wearing flag pins that didn’t represent a state, country, or territory currently served by the airline following an altercation between a Jewish passenger and a flight attendant.
Paul Faust, 54, says a return flight with JetBlue was canceled by the airline after he told a flight attendant who was wearing a ‘Free Palestine’ pin badge that he found the message upsetting.
Following the furore caused by this incident, JetBlue says it “urgently expedited” a uniform review which resulted in Palestine flag pins effectively being banned.
Last month, Delta faced criticism from the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) after it banned crew members from wearing Palestine flag pins in the face of public pressure and allegations of antisemitism.
In order not to single out a single country or territory, Delta decided that it would ban flight attendants from wearing any flag pin with the exception of the US flag.
Flight attendants, however, voiced their dismay at no longer being able to show off their language skills by wearing flag pins on their uniforms.
In a statement, United explained its current flag pin policy, saying: “Our uniform policy has long included an option for flight attendants to wear flag pins to designate specific language skills so that our customers who are more comfortable in a language other than English can know who on our crew speaks their preferred language,”
The statement continued: “We also allow flight attendants to wear flag pins that represent their pride in a place to which they may have a special connection.”
Apparently, the folks at United don’t remember Flight 93 or 175 or their co-workers who died that day. If they did remember and wanted to honor those folks they wouldn’t allow open support for terrorism.
A Palestinian flag is not “open support for terrorism”.
You’re falsely trying to conflate Palestine and Hamas.
By your logic, an American flag is “open support for the Biden administration”.
That is ridiculous. Palestinians have a flag just like you have a flag. They have rights and an identity just like you. What a hateful thing to say about an entire people’s flag!
Not only are US flight attendant some, if not the worst in the western world by major airlines standarts?
Now, I also have to endure their stance on global politics and that for my own money?…
But if I want them to do their job and I use the call button in flight, they will most likely call the police for humiliating them while working.
What an absolute joke UA and some of their staff are!
Airline employees who have to wear a company uniform should not be adding any personal items to the uniform. Personal political statements have no place. It’s a uniform.
And no surprise UAL allows it. They make so many bad business decisions and this is one more.
Writer DaninMCI’s comment made a very poignant point.
United I’m done with you….goodbye
Commercial flying has deteriorated enough already ….as if we need more inflight drama, disturbances, demonstrations from so- called adults who don’t understand civl behavior…Flight crews should re-direct their political energy to their responsibilities while on duty .
Language that they speak or a country that they feel a special connection to? Maybe limit it to a language they speak so they don’t confuse the actual paying customers? Either way, that’s the end of UA for us. It might be a useful idea however to make pins with a list of languages that the FAs speak.
Finally an American company is standing up to the Israeli lobby ( masquerading as “anti-Semitism groups”).
Israeli lobby wants to curtail the freedom of speech and assembly and expression by Americans by equating any criticism of Israel as being anti-Semitic. But Israel is a country and not a religion. Same way that criticizing Iran or Saudi Arabia for human rights violations is not Islamophobic and anti-Islam.
Yes, any criticism of Israel or any support of a more humanitarian treatment of the Palestinian civilians is deemed antisemitic.
Good for United!