A United Airlines flight attendant has come under fire for wearing a Palestinian flag pin on board a flight from Chicago to Newark. However, United stands behind the flight attendant and supports her right to wear such a polarizing pin.
United Airlines supports flight attendant who wore controversial Palestinian flag pin
The Jewish civil rights organization StopAntisemitism was the first to report the incident, which occurred on a flight from Chicago (ORD) to Newark (EWR). The (unnamed) flight attendant was wearing not only a pin with the Palestinian flag under her name tag, but also a band around her neck with a keffiyeh pattern (traditional male head covering).
“Proud”
Really @united ?? https://t.co/4p9LyB96T7
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) 27 August 2024
We’ve seen similar incidents with JetBlue and Delta Air Lines. And in fact, both responded by banning all flag pins except the American flag.
However, United defends the right of its flight attendants to wear such badges. It states:
“Our uniform policy has long included the option for flight attendants to wear flag pins to indicate their specific language skills, so that our customers who feel more comfortable speaking a language other than English know who on our crew speaks their preferred language.
That makes sense… but United continues:
“We also allow flight attendants to wear flag pins to express their pride in a place they may have a special connection to.”
Oops.
Does United allow Taiwan pins on flights to mainland China? Pins from Nazi Germany or apartheid South Africa? Pins with the Confederate battle flag?
Apples and oranges? All of them, including the Palestinian flag, represent ideologies of conquest and superiority. Just listen to Yahya Sinwar…
This is not a smart move by United… and of course the “pride” comment and the accompanying rainbow “equal” pin by the flight attendant in Gaza or the West Bank are particularly ironic…
As I have argued before, banning such controversial uniform badges makes sense, even if it reflects an unfortunate reality of incivility at a time when we cannot tolerate opposing views on highly contentious issues. The badges become a distraction and undermine an airline’s primary mission of providing safe, reliable and high-quality air transport. The ban is therefore appropriate, as badges bearing the Israeli or, in particular, the Palestinian flag provoke emotions. Badges bearing the Russian or Ukrainian flag can provoke the same reaction.
I love when flight attendants wear flag pins to show what language(s) they speak. I also loved when Emirates had flag pins to show where their diverse crew came from and what languages they spoke.
Take Arabic, for example. There is no “Arabic” flag. Rather, there are dozens of countries where Arabic is spoken, and many have different dialects or nuances. If a flight attendant is from Gaza or the West Bank and speaks Arabic, I think a pin with the Palestinian flag on it is quite appropriate.
But unless the flight attendant pictured above spoke Arabic with a Palestinian dialect, she was not required to wear this badge on her uniform.
And I’m quite surprised that United is taking a very different approach to this issue than Delta or JetBlue. Part of me wishes we could wear our respective badges and debate respectfully. But this is not the country or nation we live in, and United should not subject passengers to such rudeness when that flag represents hate and terror for so many Israeli and Jewish passengers.
