In this third installment in our Aviation Symposium series of blog posts, we present the materials from the panel on Flight Attendants and Customer Service Agents: Risks and Liabilities.  Our guest panelists included several airline executives, aviation attorneys, insurers and aviation safety experts.  

The focus of the panel was on the increased threat environment facing flight attendants, gate agents, and other customer-facing airline personnel.  The number of incidents involving unruly passengers, fights on aircraft, and even physical and sexual assaults on airline employees, are all up over what they were 10 years ago.   

The panel agreed that one of the primary drivers of such incidents continues to be over-consumption of alcohol, particularly the amount of pre-flight drinking that can occur within the airport.  The panel noted that, while there are substantial civil penalties – over $44,000 per occurrence – for unruly passengers who interfere with the operation of an aircraft, too often even serious offenders are not prosecuted to the maximum extent possible. 

The panel also discussed both the domestic U.S. and international framework for prosecution of crimes such as assault committed on aircraft.  Despite these laws, the International Air Transport Association notes that over 60% of unruly passenger incidents go unpunished.  

Finally, the panel discussed the merits of using an industry-based no-fly list as a way to further deter bad passenger behavior that results in threats or injury, as well as increased training in threat de-escalation and, if all else fails, personal self-defense.

 For those wanting more information on the topic, the panel’s presentation materials are HERE.