Delta Air Lines Tells Flight Attendants That They Can’t Stop Passengers Taking Photos of Them… With One Important Caveat

Delta Air Lines has told flight attendants that they cannot tell passengers to stop taking photos of them following several controversial incidents, including a recent event onboard a Delta flight from Boston to West Palm Beach when a flight attendant was photographed wearing a Palestine flag pin.

The photo of the flight attendant quickly went viral and resulted in Delta quickly amending its grooming and appearance policy to stop employees from wearing any pin badge, with the exception of the US flag pin.

In a new memo titled ‘Our approach to customer photos/videos,’ the airline says that following several recent incidents, “we’ve received a number of requests from employees asking Delta to prohibit photography taken without employee consent.”

Delta says that it had “thoroughly reviewed” its policy on the subject and has come to the conclusion that, in most cases, flight attendants and other customer-facing staff cannot tell passengers to stop photographing or videoing them and that this is not reason in itself to boot someone from a flight.

“We know most customers are well-intended and document their travel experience as a normal and fun part of the journey, and employees do the same when they travel,” the memo explains.

“Delta is a common carrier by air, meaning we are obligated to transport any passenger who pays our fare and agrees to our contract of carriage,” the memo continues. “Common carriers (aircraft, trains, subways, buses, etc.) cannot restrict customer conduct to the same degree that other businesses can, and we cannot implement or institute rules that are inconsistent with laws and regulations.”

After consulting with its legal teams, Delta reviewed the Federal Aviation Regulations and determined that while customers must comply with certain crew member instructions, the FARs do not list photography restrictions as an instruction that flight attendants can impose on passengers.

“You’ve likely seen gyms or other businesses implement a no-photo policy,” the memo explains. “Those private businesses are permitted to implement such policies because they do not operate under the same regulations as airlines.”

There is, however, one important caveat to Delta’s new take on customer photography and the airline says it will continue to support flight attendants “when the content captured is not well intentioned.”

For example, if videos or photos “interfere with the safety and security of flight or if the behavior interferes with the safety or security of employees and customers,” then flight attendants can instruct passengers to stop and could have someone kicked off a flight.

The memo tells flight attendants that, in most cases, they should “focus on de-escalation” and that before they take action, they should “leverage” the support of the ground team or pilots.

Flight attendants will still be permitted to ask passengers to respect their privacy and avoid including them in photos, but Delta has made it clear that they “cannot force them to stop, nor may we remove someone from a flight merely because they took a photo or video.”

At the bottom of Delta’s ‘onboard experience’ page on its website, the airline has quietly added a new note that reads: “We recognize that capturing content is a standard part of customers’ travel experiences.”

“However, capturing content should not interfere with the safety or security of flight, fellow customers or our employees. We ask that you are mindful of including Delta employees in that content, and respectful in your intent.”