I really think this is an area in which airlines just can’t win…
Continue reading: United Airlines’ Controversial Policy On Employee Flag Pins
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Flag pins were used to show what language a FA can speak. That’s it. It shouldn’t be for showing sympathy with any country. Airline employees should not show anything on their uniforms that are not related to their corporate brand. I am with Delta in this matter.
This sentence alone shows your bias as a Jewish person: “Rightly or wrongly, there’s no denying that wearing a Palestine flag is going to make many passengers angry” why is there no denying that wearing an Israeli flag will make some passengers, especially those of Palestinian ancestry, angry? Now we understand why you don’t want flight attendants to wear Palestinian flags.
"I don’t think anyone is going to be offended by a flag from Spain, or Brazil, or Japan."
I have to disagree with you there. Definitely reasons to be offended by all three, if one is from a group that has historically been... on the other side of certain conflicts.
Best approach is no flags.
1. Photographing and posting about a FA wearing controversial pins is not “harassment” as people who are affected by it have the right to know.
2. As a result, flag pins should be banned altogether.
3. However, there should be a standard language pin (unless there already is)
Simple and harmless
I am an aviation lawyer who is a proud Italian and American dual citizen, but I don’t wear an Italian or American flag lapel pin when I go to client meetings or in a professional context. If I were Israeli or Palestinian I might feel differently, but I guess I believe that when we go to work, it’s primarily about serving our clients. Our personal views, no matter how strong and how correct they might be, can wait until our personal time.
@ Matt -- The inverse is absolutely true as well. The reason I specifically talked about the Palestinian flag is because every viral story I've seen involving flag pins at a US airlines has been about a Palestinian flag, and not an Israeli flag.
Pride flags (known in many parts of the world as the pedophile flag) should obviously not be allowed. Not only should they not be allowed but wearing them should be grounds for instant termination with the employee owing damages not only to the company but to any religious passengers they may have offended.
Palestinian and other terrorist flags should also not be allowed but the punishment should not be as severe as wearing a pedophile flag.
@Lucky, Once again, as a Taiwanese gay person, I want to ask, would your point of view remain the same if the flight attendant is wearing a rainbow flag or a Republic of China flag? The 3 points you made can also be valid in these cases:
"Rightly or wrongly, there’s no denying that wearing a Palestine flag is going to make many passengers angry"
"Ultimately airlines can’t protect employees from the harassment of being photographed and put on blast for wearing such a pin"
"As much as I’m for individual expression of employees, I think that line should probably be drawn short of expressing a divisive take"
@ ernestnywang -- I'll always gladly admit when I don't have a good answer, and this is one of those cases. Let me again emphasize that I wouldn't be offended by seeing any of the flag pins mentioned in the post or in your comment. I'm not opposed to any flag pins, so I can only opine based on the controversy I see online.
Let me put it this way. If pictures of flight attendants wearing pride flags were shared online for millions to see (without their permission), and if people made horrible comments about that employee as a result, and even doxxed them, how should the company protect people? I don't have a good answer, because I don't think there is a right answer.
Flags and Lizzo trigger people like never before. People just need to wear a helmet.
A flag is not a direct correlation to languages spoken and many people on the earth can trace their family history to another country than the flag of the carrier they operate for so there is little value in displaying a flag.
Given that flags display some sort of allegiance to a cause, there is little benefit and a lot of downside to allowing them in a customer service industry.
The US esp. is politically divided on a million issues; the less that employees talk about let alone display their political thoughts, the better the customer service experience will be.
By multiple metrics, DL leads in customer service metrics among the US global 3 alongside WN. It would be far more notable of a comparison to know WN's policy regarding pins and flags.
When the majority of hijackings are committed by Palestinians….its naturally disconcerting to see Palestinian flags worn by crew members. Regardless of the current conflict…its tacit support or terrorism.
I just find it “funny” because wearing a pin isn’t doing a thing to end the atrocities…just a way for people to pat themselves on the back…but literally, wearing a pin doesn’t do anything to help anybody…
If gays and Chinese people had a history of terrorism against others, their respective leaders constantly and publicly called for the murder of others….yeah, I think people would be offended by those flags in support.
Pride flags are not "known in many parts of the world as the pedophile flag" because pride has nothing whatsoever to do with such an abhorrent crime. The only people who make that reference are wilfully ignorant or downright homophobes and I suspect you know that and are making this statement anyway. What a disgusting comment to make.
United's policy is short sighted. If this is allowed, there will be future issues arising that will destroy the relative peace that airlines should promote. While everyone is entitled to support the cause they believe in, it doesn't belong at work.
Ben—thank you for covering this in a reasonable and reasonably apolitical way. Something most other blogs have failed miserably at.
Cheers
The Palestinians are a people, and they are recognised as a nation by 140 other countries. So why is their flag controversial? Because some want to deny that they are a people. And Ben, very, very few people are choosing to ignore October 7th. It's just 40,000 Palestinians have died compared to 1,200 Israelis, and they continue to be killed. So naturally it seems like the bigger issue at the moment, right? Choosing to "two-sides" this issue, whilst you may think you're being apolitical, is actually taking a political stance. I am full of respect for the people who have the courage to voice their support for a people who are facing extermination. And for those of you who don't, you have lost your humanity. There is a whole group of innocent people being wiped out by bombs, and at best you say "oh it's tragic" and at worst you agree with it. Shame on all of you. Shame.
Most people wearing flags are also donating plenty and protesting plenty. The flag is a sign of solidarity to help make more people aware of the movement. There is strength in numbers. People who have never been part of an oppressed minority don't understand collective solidarity because they have never been persecuted. Maybe try putting yourself in someone else's shoes for once.
There are hardly any hijackings anymore. When was the last Palestinian-motivated hijacking? That's like saying that flight attendants can't wear hijabs because many terrorist incidents have been perpetrated by Islamic terrorists. What a load of horsesh*t. Palestinians are a people, recognised by 140 other countries, and they have a flag that represents them AS PEOPLE. By saying what you are saying you are denying their nationhood.
The obvious solution is for management to actually stand up for their employees and hold customers to a higher standard. A flag pin does not hurt you, it does not affect you, let it go and get on with your life.
That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. We must ban hijabs then because of Islamic terrorism. You're saying a person isn't allowed to display their heritage because some terrorists are also of the same heritage? You, and others like you, think that Palestine is a state full of terrorists and exists only to inflict terrorism on Israel and the West. This just shows how deeply brainwashed, uneducated, and inhumane you are. Palestinians have existed as a people for hundreds of years, but you want to boil their entire identity down to terrorism, because that's the only way you can understand the world. Good, white people and bad, brown people (aka terrorists). Please, educate yourself.
And that's because the Americans have been radicalised and brainwashed to support Israel. Partly due to racist reasons, partly because it is in the US government's interest to maintain a colonial outpost in the Middle East to pressure Iran and dictate policy. So it defends Israel to its people at all cost. Back in segregation times, plenty of white people were offended at seeing people of colour. But of course no one can see injustice as it's unfolding in front of our eyes. Hindsight is 20/20. So yes, by all means, let's remove anything that the majority may find offensive. Soon enough, pride will disappear, equal rights will disappear, every bit of progress we've made will disappear, and we will live in a fascist dystopia. But it's worth it, so that people don't get "offended".
To be fair, there’s no push for doing burlesque in front of children. Also no such thing as burlesque queen story hour. Just sayiin..
As a multi-year attendee of SF Pride, pride is heavily rooted in sex and kink, which is awesome, but that being said, it’s definitely not for kids.
No company should be comfortable with their front line employees expressing support for terrorists while in their job. I wouldn't feel comfortable having such people responsible for my safety. What's next, flying with Russian pins? North Korean?
Definitely a privileged take from Bruce here. My guess is that Bruce is neither Israeli nor Jewish, so he doesn't understand why it would be concerning for them to a Palestinian flag and the history of what people flying that flag did and said to Jewish and Israeli people. Not acknowledging the fact that there are people who find that flag offensive and borderline threatening shows where Bruce is on the tolerance level.
No, it doesn't offend or hurt YOU. Other people ARE offended or hurt by it to a point that it may cause them to rethink flying with that airline. Why is it so difficult to understand and sympathize?
I feel your statement:
"I don’t think anyone is going to be offended by a flag from Spain, or Brazil, or Japan."
is wrong.
There are plenty of Catalans, Basques, and Moroccans who might take offense at a Spanish flag, and Chinese and Koreans who would not like to be waited on by a person expressing their Japanese pride. I'm sure the same is true of Brazil although, embarrassingly, I don't know enough about the history of that country to know who it would offend.
Of course, we're all entitled to our opinions about which offense-taking is justified and which is silly. But those are just opinions. The fact is that there's no flag in existence which will not potentially offend someone.
The policy choice here is between freedom of expression and freedom from offense. And it's a real choice that needs to be made.
I don't have an opinion about whether United or Delta has the better policy but I can see arguments for either one
The irony here is that being gay is a crime punishable by death in the PA and in Gaza
While his comment is indeed disgusting, Etihad Airways Bruce here is spewing antisemitic propoganda. Look at yourself and what you say first.
Finally a sensible post on this madness. It's really exhausting how some other BA blogs have decided to inflict their political Views from the Bulkhead Seat on the rest of us day in and day out. I'll admit to having very strong political views on this subject myself and everyone is entitled to their own opinions but frankly I'm exhausted by these people. If I wanted pointless arguments about global conflicts from people who aren't qualified to comment I'll go to Twitter!
That said, I can appreciate the idea behind United's policy but ultimately Delta's makes more sense. There are enough opportunities for misunderstandings when people are locked together in a metal tube for hours on end without injecting politics.
My take on this: FA are customer facing in a professional capacity. Their private views on anything don’t belong on their uniforms. That includes religious symbols, rainbow flags, PETA logos, etc etc.
Israeli guy here. I do not like seeing flight attendants wearing Palestinian flags pin. If I was a Palestinian I would assume the opposite if a FA was wearing an Israeli flag pin. That is why flag pins that are not language-related are dumb and should disappear.
Anyone here who comments who is neither Israeli nor Palestinian just doesn't get it because it doesn't affect them. It's a VERY touchy subject.
"number of innocent Palestinians who have lost their lives"
did you mean
"40000 Palestinians who have been slaughtered in an Israeli genocide, funded by the United States"
Fixed it for you. The biased language you use makes sense given you share the same first name as Netanyahu.
@Sel D. I assume you're referring to drag queens? Which is not the same thing as burlesque at all. I dare your usual drag queens have far, far more layers on. And besides the David person at the top of this post was spewing far right homophobic lies about the pride flag, not drag queens. And, just sayin', parents choose whether their kids go to a library to see a drag queen read a book, so just leave them too it.
Pride is not "heavily rooted in sex a kink". Pride is a celebration of a community that was once illegal and still faces discrimination. Sure, some people, of any sexuality, are into kink. But if anything illegal or untoward is happening at a public parade the police should look into it. The fact I hear of very few if any arrests at prides suggests not much is happening.
I have been to prides in London, Brighton, Sydney and New York. And it is usually just people in bright t-shirts listening to disco walking down a street. "Not for kids," is yet another far right bullet point.
Hamas started the war. Raped killed and mamed in their failed genocide of the Israeli people. Israel must end it. Hamas hides behind the innocent. War is devastating, but sometimes necessary. America killed millions of civilians in WWII, but it was required to root out the evil. Your micro-empathy is macro-evil.
@James I would say it's a very middle of the road stance that drag is not for kids. Many of the legacy gays would agree. Middle, reasonable, or slightly right doesn't mean far right. Calm down dude. Parents are pulling kids out of public schools because of an incredibly political divisive flag - the progress pride flag.
Yes, those people need to get over it. If you automatically equate a Palestine flag to terrorism or an Israeli flag to genocide or a Pride flag to pedophilia, especially when worn as part of a work uniform on a transportation company, that's a YOU problem and you desperately need to log off and check your perspective. You are in a public setting, you WILL find yourself seeing symbols that most people don't find offensive even if they offend you personally. Being mature is realizing that society is not going to cater to your every sensibility.
Here's an idea: If you are certified by United (or any other carrier) to speak a specific foreign language on board - then you can wear that flag pin.
Here's a better idea, wear a pin that has a text indicating you speak said langusage but doesn't feature a flag, the technology exists.
Hamas committed acts - mass rapes, border breakings, hostage-taking - that have been defined as acts of war in the West and the Islamic world for at least 1,500 years. They are now on the receiving end of a military campaign that will cause unfortunate collateral damage.
This...is not hard.
>America killed millions of civilians in WWII
I'm reasonably certain that the death tolls from the US bombing campaigns in WWII barely add up to a million, definitely not multiples. And yes I'm including the atomic bombs in that total.
>but it was required to root out the evil.
Because technology of the time made it an impossibility to limit strikes to military-only targets with any kind of certainty. The difference is that today Israel has the technology and the information necessary to limit civilian casualties to a far greater extent than was possible in WWII, making any such comparisons a false equivalence. Compare instead to the US in Falluja and Mosul. While civilian casualties still occurred, the US was far more stringent about dropping bombs and using artillery against targets in densely populated areas. The US denied strikes in dense areas on multiple occasions out of concern that such strikes would result in unacceptable civilian casualties. Israel by contrast is bombing targets without even the barest due diligence that the actual target is even there, and doing so with a far higher tolerance for civilian deaths. They are in effect terror bombing, no different than Nazi Germany during the 1940 Blitz. Furthermore, unlike the US "clear and hold" strategy used in Vietnam and the Middle East, the Israeli army is only clearing and then leaving, allowing insurgents to reoccupy previously cleared zones uncontested. It's a recipe for failure and in the end is only going to incite more hatred and ensure more October 7s.
It's not easy to read a text on a badge unless it's reeeeally huge. A flag is a lot more legible like a pictogram.
@Sel D. I'm a "legacy gay," I guess. And most legacy gays know that drag, like any performance, is targeted to an audience. Just like a comedian, some jokes you fire out at 11pm in a bar are not the ones you do at 11am. But no one is saying comedians should be banned - only drag queens. I wonder why.
As for "calming down, dude," you're the one that said pride is "not for kids," which is 100pc a far right bullet point.
"So why is their flag controversial?"
The fact that Israel has returned Hamas' brutality several times over doesn't change the fact that Hamas (which has governed Palestine for nearly two decades and is not merely some small terrorist organization representing a tiny minority of the population) has done terrible things in the name of Palestine that people are rightly offended by.
of course that makes sense because flags do not correlate w/ languages.
and some airlines, as part of their initial pre-board briefing list the languages that FAs onboard that flight speak w/ the language FAs that are not part of the safety briefing languages sometimes adding a one sentence welcome aboard and offer for assistance in their language.
There is no reason to display a flag or just about any other pin other than your name tag.
When the majority of school shootings are committed by Americans... it's naturally disconcerting to see American flags worn by teachers. Regardless of the current context... it's tacit support for school shootings.
Sounds dumb, right?
Poor david k. I wonder what went through the dinosaurs' minds when they saw the meteor approaching Earth? I suspect it is much the same for him. Which is to say, his brain might register some fear but otherwise is likely unable to process the fact that he's part of a group that's headed toward extinction.
It's probably worth noting that there's now 2 different kinds of "pride flag": the classic rainbow one, and the newer "progress" flag. The classic rainbow one just represents gay pride/equality, which I see nothing wrong with. But the "progress" pride flag is a whole different ball game - much more controversial, and supports much more divisive and arguably harmful ideologies, not just simple equality.
That said, neither of them support pedophilia as this comment claimed. (That's not to say the "progress" flag doesn't imply support for other things that, despite possibly-good intentions, harm children... and women, and others in general... but that's another discussion.)
Point is, I don't see the normal gay pride flag being controversial in 2024 (at least in the US), but I would understand banning the "progress" flag as explicitly political and divisive, if an airline had to draw a line somewhere in between "anything goes" and "US flag only."
Sel. D aka Ben Gvir
Zionists started the war in 1948, the Nakba. It won’t end until Palestine is free.
Don’t let your extremist views get in the way of factual history.
"The irony here is that being gay is a crime punishable by death in the PA and in Gaza"
As it also was in multiple US states, until 2003's "Lawrence v. Texas" forced them to take it off their books. Not that it'd been recently enforced in any of them though.
Can you attest that the same isn't true for Palestine? Cite some gays that have recently been officially sentenced to death there. Because if the best you can come up with is a lynch mob taking matters into its own hands, then I have some more news for you on the US front.
"Hamas started the war."
Ah, so you're one of those people who feigns belief that there were no hostilities before October 7, 2023? Everything was just cookies and rainbows, wasn't it?
What do you consider is a divisive take? Should flight attendants be allowed to wear LGBT flags? People are always going to be offended by something. I think it’s great that United is sticking to the rationale for the flags in the first place, which is to allow employees to express their pride or showcase their language skills. Plenty of people are offended why what Israel represents. If they can’t see the suffering on the other side, that’s their problem.
Is wearing a Palestinian flag expressing support for terrorists? Does that mean someone who wears an Israeli flag is advocating for genocide?
“Palestinians who have lost their lives in the response to this attack”.
Let me clarify your words: “Palestinians who have been killed by the IDF.”
That is one of the official numbers provided by Hamas. There have been some questions because the number of those killed without names is concerning.
To many Jewish people, the Palestinian flag has become an offensive symbol of Jew hate akin to the Nazi Swastika or the KKK hood. If it were any other minority group, that minority group would be allowed to determine what they deem offensive, and a just society would address their feelings and work to mitigate the hate symbols. But Jews are just told, "nope, you're committing genocide. Deal with it." Why do Jews have to accept others expressing their hate towards them, when we do so much to make other minorities understood and welcome?
"Official" anything from Hamas is as trustworthy as an Old Fashioned served to you by Bill Cosby.
That's why personal statements, such as flag pins, should not be worn by front line customer service people. You're a business, what good does it do you to have customers making personal statements that piss off like half of your customer base.
netanyahu's Israel is like that child that hits other smaller kids in the playground they were "allowed to stay in" whilst it's only them with an adult standing in the back, and that adult has to stick around because the DNA test results arrives in November.
netanyahu's representation of Jews is like a kid that gets pinched once and will never stop talking about it until every other human being says sorry.
If the policy is that staff can support their cause, then it should work both ways.
Wearing a palestinian pin is controversial because palestine is run by a terrorist organization called Hamas. Nobody is marching in the streets to depose Hamas. In fact quite the opposite, the majority of Palestine supports what happened on October 7th. If you dont see why that is controversial, you need your head examined.
Indeed. The problem is too many virtue signalers who check which way the wind is blowing and decide to signal their virtual accordingly. Im sure many germans in 1932 thought they would be on the right side of history too. Unfortunately they weren’t and neither are those who dont openly protest against Hamas
Except you’re making a great point here. Palestinians are abhorred by every surrounding Arab country. Because the Palestinian goal- stated clearly by their government and reinforced in every single school- is to wipe out the Jewish state. Palestinians are a people….but they’re widely regarded as the most antisemitic and jihadist people on this earth. Support of the people is perfectly fine. Wearing their flag- the flag of a terrorist leadership since day one- is abhorrent.
Umm….you actually got it right there. Palestinians exist to terrorize Israel. That is exactly why they’re despised by other Arabs. Supporting them right now is the worst thing for their future. Only way they can become normal world citizens is a complete overhaul of their teaching system and government. This war is necessary.
The policy is terrible - "We also allow flight attendants to wear flag pins that represent their pride in a place to which they may have a special connection"
What if I had a special connection to Nazi Germany and wanted to wear a Nazi flag ? Is that OK, because it is special to me and I feel connected to Nazi's
No personal pins and only flag should be the flag the carrier is flying under
And touchy is VERY subjective.
People are very vocal about equality and inclusion but yet you get to apply double standards all the time, just because it's "touchy".
Do you even see yourself?
It's like saying you're ok with authoritarian dictatorship as long as your view is the same.
It's all about the last paragraph.
Even after talking about nuking Japan or sending humans to Mars.
Everything else is chatGPTim.
Arabic is the official language of about two dozen countries. Which flag pin, if any, should be used to represent the language?
This question is giving people flu.
Cough Cough.... double standards.
Cough Cough.... propagandas.
Cough Cough.... brain washed.
But we demand equality and inclusion right?
But we forgot to put an asterisk.
*When it's good for me and NIMBY.
#MeAndNIMBY
So if your family fought for the Confederates, is that flag fair game, or nah? I'm not really suggesting that, but pointing out these things can get absurd.
Can we just not wear our opinions about things - international conflicts, politics, social issues, etc. on our work uniform and just bring the PFB and do the safety dance please?
But wearing flag is not about offending passengers seeing suffering or not.
It's about offending big big corporate clients influencer. 😉
Just like some schools are setting policy based on donors or person on the board.
But sure the pawns are always a good diversion, before checkmate.
If only the pawns would realize that.
It actually does offend people, and rightly do.
But similar as seeing your ex with another person, you can either get offended or grow up.
Sure you can compare all day long your ex didn't do this or that in October. It's normal to get offended. But also try grow up.
When I read the comments here and in general about this war, it is always so borderline aggressive, which should be the most clear cut reason that UA management left their political views in the boardroom or at the kitchen table. And yes it's a management desition for UA to be a company that's politically activistic.
I have had it with companies telling me what to think, while I am paying their salaries!
Understandably so, if you listen to the slogans of pro Palestine marches (from the river to the sea) it is clear that a common ideology of the Palestine supporters is to eradicate Israel. Many may prefer to do so in a peaceful way but still their goal overlaps with the Palestine’s government, except the latter would use more extreme means. With that in mind, I understand any Israeli that is scared or angered by the Palestinian flag.
Sounds exactly like what an authoritarian dictatorship would want.
Didn't the opposite ideology sent quadrillions to fight a war on the other side of the planet, directly and covertly through a proxy for almost a century to suppress 'regimes'?
So the "free" can freely have opinions while enjoying PFB and the dance.
@joshua k. They could use the flag of the Arab League which organizes many of them.
Generally I would let people display the flag of any country they have a passport of plus any language they speak with the country with the most speakers of that language used to represent it. They would be a fair metric and not this “any flag they might feel connected to” that leaves the door open for any kind of shenanigans
What if you had a special connection to Buddhism or Hindu and wanted to wear Swastika?
Just because Hitler put a symbol on his flag.
If Hitler's flag was made of rainbows, or some bearded dude in red clothes riding reindeer, what would that mean?
You only see the flag the way you want to see it. (or what the government wants you to see)
It's called propaganda.
And you haven't learned anything from history.
Maybe the propaganda is working.
What qualifies as terrorists?
Killing innocent people?
Holding prisoners?
Claiming rights to a territory?
Depends on who you ask.
Would FAs be open to customers wearing flag pins and other messaging? Or is this one-sided?
@Dave False equivalence there no? Palestine is de facto a country regardless of how Israel feels about it. A Palestine flag pin does not show solidarity with Hamas's actions any more than a US flag pin would show solidarity with the US invasion of Iraq. By comparison neither Nazi Germany nor the Confederate States exists. If you're showing you're from a place, you'd either wear your national flag (Germany, USA) or maybe state flag. Only someone supporting the values of Nazi Germany or the CSA would wear a pin of their flags. That's not a difficult logical distinction.
No I write under my own name, not an alias. I wouldn't compare Ben Schlappig to Netanyahu. I care about all human lives, regardless of where people are from. Even someone who commits acts of terror, while they must of course face justice for their actions, are still human beings. Some of you seem to forget that. Even when all this is done, the the soldiers of the IDF, despite the heinous crimes we already know they have committed, should be treated with humanity. Palestinians are a people, I feel like this goes without saying but they are NOT all terrorists, killing 40,000 of them as collateral damage for hunting terrorists is NOT acceptable, it is too many lives lost. And terrorism does not work like other forms of conflict. You cannot eliminate terrorists because their ideologies only gain traction the more you target them. If Israel cared about its citizens, it would seek a peaceful solution to this. Practically speaking, that is the most likely to save Israeli lives in the long term. But the genocidal fervour has taken over Israel and much of the West, unfortunately, and so killing tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians whilst maintaining the premise of targeting terrorists is now considered acceptable by many.
I'm defending Palestinian civilians. But to you anyone just existing as a Palestinian is an act of terror. The brain rot is so deep there is little room even for discussion with you.
Putting your incessant need to repeat my name aside, I don't understand what is 'privileged' about my take. But I guess I don't need to, since you don't seem to understand the meaning of that word and are probably using it incorrectly. Zionists seem to find the existence of Palestinian people (a legitimate people, who have existed as an ethnicity for hundreds of years) offensive and threatening. That is not a valid opinion. If I decided that I found the existence of Turkish people and their flag offensive because of the Greek and Armenian genocides then I would be in the wrong. And I think I am very tolerant, especially now that I'm taking the time to reply to your thoughtless and quite frankly, stupid comment.
Anyone here who says that they like this "balanced" and "reasonable" take on this issue clearly do not seem to care that people are being killed. This is about life or death for millions of Palestinians. You sit behind your laptop or phone and barely give a second thought to other human beings who are suffering, dying, losing their families, livelihoods, each day by the thousands. When the stakes are this high there is NO ROOM to be apolitical. We need to save as many lives as possible. Everyone with a platform has a moral OBLIGATION to use that platform to spread the message and put pressure on our governments to stop Israel from continuing this genocide. I don't care if you like to "stay out of politics". That is a decision of privilege because you are shielded from the suffering. Not to mention the COMPLICITY of the US government in conducting this genocide. Even more of a reason for every single one of you to advocate for an end to this. Silence is being complicit in this crime against humanity.
I find it ironic a US-based readership doesn’t see what the rest of the world sees - genocide! Keep defending the 2nd amendment, but don’t uphold the 1st (politicians can lie on camera, but a flight attendant can’t wear a legitimate flag). God help America.
Censoring the Palestinian flag is short term thinking by the Jewish community and NOT in any way going to help Israel or the Jewish community get any more safe.
The only way to ensure long term safety and sustainability for the state of Israel is a return to the two state solution and creation of a free and independent Palestinian state.
few major employers would allow their staff to pick and choose whatever they want to adorn their work clothes ... other than the US flag on lapels. DL is right, it's a no-win that needn't be fought.
I think a there are Americans that do see it as it is. The only issue is that most Americans do know, married or are Jews themselves and more often than not, the whole thing is that they are so b*tt-hurt from what happened in the 1940s that they still want the world to owe them something.
The way that Netanyahu is doing things at the moment, it sounds like anything that opposes his views is immediately branded as anti-semitism, and there's a stigma with that because "Americans can't be Nazis!!"
As with most US-based people, they can only understand black or white, there is no grey, just like this situation, because the action comes from Netanyahu and from the Jews, it cannot be bad.
The crew is to get me from point A to B safely and in comfort. Pins do not affect that service. I literally could not care less about what pins they wear. People need to mind their own business.
Palestine is made of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which are not connected to each other. Hamas rules the Gaza Strip, and their rival Fatah, the other major Palestinian political party, rules the West Bank.
According to figures released by the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry, 40K civilians have been killed. These figures are widely regarded as being vastly inflated for propaganda purposes, and are aimed at inflaming the passions of clueless, gullible Westerners who believe everything that Hamas tells them.
There, fixed it for you.
The only flag they should be wearing is the US flag. This is completely ridiculous. No other country or airline has this problem that is very easy to fix. Delta and United are “US flag carriers”. This is just silly.
Dude, John Lawrence was charged with a misdemeanor under Texas law. Sexual activity between consenting adults of the same sex was never punishable by death under any US state law at any point in history.
As unfortunate as US law has historically treated gay people, there is no valid comparison here...
LOL @ finding the commonality of a first name and correlating that to anything more.
1) It seems like almost everyone in the Travel Blog Business is complaining about The little Flag.
2) Did not know so many in the Travel Blog Business have Loyalty to Israel.( Gary Leff, Mathew Klint,Cohen,Berg & almost everyone at The Points Guy).
3) Watch World Series Of Poker, there are a Few US/Israeli Players that have large Israeli Flags hanging Behind them. No other countries Flags are there.can you Imagine ,God Forbid a Palestinian Flag would have been brought there? Travel Boggers like you would have Found a way to relate The Palestinian Flag there to Travel.
By the way, The camera man kept on Zooming to the Israeli Flag every few minutes. Just to show Loyalty of the media to Israel.
MoGreen, Nazism is not a country or place, but a national socialist ideology...not sure how your example is relevant or relates in this matter?
Delta's approach is better. No flags unless it is the home country of the carrier. The airlines should figure out another way for flight attendants to show the languages they speak. Not just with Israel and Palestine, but there are many other contested areas for flags. It just makes it simple and easy. With United's approach I think the airline will not be allowed to fly to certain destinations and will be given a problem soon because of the flag issue and a flight attendant.
How can people supposedly smart enough to read this be so ill informed otherwise? It’s actually mind boggling. 40,000 Palestinians dead? These figures are from the Gaza Ministry of Health. Know who that is? That’s Hamas. Not sure about anyone else, but I’d rather not champion a single piece of fact coming from them. But even if it was 40k dead, and the true figure is likely a significant number smaller,
- at least 18,000 Hamas TERRORISTS have been killed. Making the civilian to militant ratio about 1:1, lower than any other urban warfare in recent history
- there would be 0 Palestinians deaths if October 7 would have looked like Oct 6.
- Hamas explicitly states they are using their own people as human shields.
It’s one thing to be ignorant and yap about what you don’t know. But for gods sake, how about an ounce of critical thinking and not eating from the hand of barbaric, maniacal, fundamentalist terrorists? Talk about wrong side of history.
And yes, United should ban Palestinian pins. Why? Because if you’re wearing one you’re either a fool, antisemite, or both. And I prefer to have my life in the hands of someone with some sense in case of emergency.
True. And equally true is that there is no "extermination", "thousands of deaths" or any other words about the Palestinians on the West Bank - especially from Israel. Which is what all the loaded comments refer to, claiming why "Palestine" needs to be supported.
Meaning all the pro-Palestinian protests are only around Hamas. And it can equally be noted that you get statements supporting Hitler and extermination of Jews from that camp. So don't see how that can be defended or supported.
Wearing a Palestinian occupied territory flag stamp to work is your right to 1st amendment.
I am pro U.S. and Pro Israel. Any Jewish people who are Palestinian sympathizers I recommend bringing an extra loaf of bread to the lake on Rosh Hashanah next month when it is time to throw away your sins because you committed a lot of sins this past year. Condoning murdered Jews is not ok.
The first amendment prevents the government from making laws inhibiting free speech. United is not the government. They, or your employer, or your local golf club, can write any speech restrictions they like into employment or membership contracts. Not the government, no obligation to honour the first amendment.
Except that Hamas and its supporters - which seems to include a lot of people on college campuses in the United States - demand the destruction of Israel, period. Until that changes I don't see how there can be even a two state solution - even if the Palestinians are given their own country, under the current regime they are going to continue to seek the total destruction of Israel and death to all Jews.
If Israel really wanted to kill all Palestinians - commit genocide as you say - do you really think there would only be 40k or so (using Hamas' numbers, which do not differentiate between Hamas fighters and actual civilians) dead? Just today Israel agreed to a pause to allow for time to administer polio vaccines. Hamas is the one whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel and killing of Jews.
This would be over the moment 1) Hamas returned the remaining hostages it took on October 7, and 2) Hamas disarmed. On October 6th there was relative peace, no one was dying on either side. Hamas launched the attack. If Israel really wanted to kill all the Palestinians they're doing a pretty poor job of it for a country with modern weapons.
And let me clarify for you: Palestinians who have lost their lives because Hamas embedded themselves within the civilian population, in schools and hospitals, even holding hostages in apartment complexes.
@Bruce 1) 40k killed is based on Hamas numbers and does not differentiate between Hamas fighters and actual civilians. Thus we do not actually know how many have been killed. 2) As long as Hamas holds hostages and calls for the destruction of Israel and death to Jews, what do you think Israel should do? If Israel stops fighting immediately, Hamas will continue to seek its total destruction.
I guess you don’t fly internationally much… Most commercial airliners allow their flight attendants to wear flag pins, but they usually represent where the person is from and any linguistic skills they might have.
BZ
I recommend you learn some history
History doesn’t start when it is convenient for you. Jews has been in Israel long before anyone else
If you are so concerned about people taking land maybe you should move back to where your ancestors came from… (which is certainly not the US)
Ben, it's a bit confusing, or perhaps you intend it to be pointed, when the word Palestine is used when it should rather be the word Palestinian. However one feels about it, there is a difference. Israel is not responsible for the fact that Palestinians did not form a state when Israelis did in 1948, they never seemed to look for opportunities when Gaza and the West Bank were occupied by Egypt and Jordan respectively, and they missed opportunities in the last 35 years, notably under the Oslo Accords.
@Bruce - then why wasn't there such a push for a Palestinian state when Gaza was controlled by Egypt and the West Bank by Jordan? Or is it only because it is now fighting against Israel?
It's one sided.
Customers wearing turbans speaking Arabic or Farsi, not that they can tell, are almost exclusively targeted. Especially since 2001.
Add a flag to that is like a no-brainer to people with no brains.
There's a fantastic scene in the West Wing that addresses this, where the deputy Chief of Staff has to confront an employee wearing a Star Trek pin in the White House.
@Bruce, neither you nor anyone else has any idea how many civilians have actually been killed, since the only numbers released, by Hamas, do not differentiate between civilians and fighters. If Hamas did not embed itself in civilian areas there would be even fewer civilians killed, so make sure you place some blame on the people who put the target there, not just those who fire the gun. As for Americans being radicalized into supporting Israel, I don't know about you but I always thought it was a good thing to support a democracy, especially when it is the only one in the region and is surrounded by autocratic governments which for decades wanted to destroy the democracy. Following October 7, or any of the other attacks on Israel, I do not recall seeing mass protests against Hamas, people taking over college campuses, preventing Jewish students from making use of campus facilities, etc. It seems that the radical support has been for Palestinians, and by extension, for Hamas, But hey, you can support whomever you want.
That's a great idea, but wait - if I wear a Switzerland pin what language do I speak? A Does a Canadian pin mean I speak English, or French? China (People's Republic of) has something like 300 languages, with Mandarin and Cantonese the two widest used. Those are different languages, though, so if someone is wearing that flag pin which do they speak? Flag pins are insufficiently specific to convey the exact language spoken.
They should enforce that flight attendents should wear both an Palestinian and an Israeli pin if they request to wear one of them, problem solved.
There is no such a thing as "innocent palestinians".
Those "innocents" are dancing on the roofs when rockets are fired towards Israel.
Those "innocents" are educated from birth to hate and kill Jews and Israelis.
a legitimate people, who have existed as an ethnicity for hundreds of years???
Where does that come from? since when? Hundred of years? palestinians didn't exist before 1948.
Israel has a good reason to believe those "palestinians" are a threat. this is the education they get from birth: remember "from the river to the sea"?
Why are the FAs afraid of their photo being taken? If they are proud of their stance then let people take photos and post it.
Again.. traveling public needs to
Mind their own business.
I wear my LGBT proudly on my uniform, those that do not like like, then look the other way. Period.
No. You’re allowed to wear a union pin and another ‘approved’ pin; such as LGBT flag, autism pin, breast cancer pin , etc.
Trace, your antisemitism is showing. People can be horrified by the slaughter of hundreds of civilians without knowing, marrying, or being Jews. And Israel ≠ Jews. Just like Hamas (or al Qaeda, or ISIS... pick your favorite islamophobic false equivalence) ≠ Muslims.
You don't need to push antisemitic views to support Palestine, and doing so only undermines their cause.
DL has the right approach. No pins.
Your workplace is not the place to argue (by wearing a flag) for/against Palestine, Israel, Russia, LGBQ+/not etc.
No pins.
No problems.
Gaza is among the most densely populated places on earth. No one can enter or leave without the IDF green light, even pre-Oct 7. ‘But Hamas’ is the IDF talking point - they want you to forget they are the ones pulling the trigger and ending these lives. And not making much effort to differentiate between Hamas ‘combatants’ and civilians. Even thought they’ve demonstrated they can be quite surgical when the want to be
Why would wearing Israeli flag advocate for genocide? Surely it would be the opposite, since Israelis are a target of (unsuccessful) genocide implicitly mentioned in Hamas' declarations?
Airline land and flight crew should not wear/carry any item with political/religious sign.
Are Israelis literally partying on beaches while the genocide is ongoing? Didn't we see videos of members of the Israeli army literally holding raves while on the border with Gaza and inside Gaza itself? So who are the ones really being taught hate?
The Oslo Accords were a rigged game designed to fail the Palestinians from the beginning.
I pay for safe transport not to read a walking human billboard. If a crew member is so passionate about a subject put a bumper sticker on their car and see how that works out for them.
So long as United doesn't instruct the FAs to swap their flag pin allegiance, i.e. making those who support Israel to wear a Palestinian flag pin and vice versa.
Emirates did exactly that in 2017, forcing Taiwanese FAs to wear the flag pins of China, the red one with 5 yellow stars. “You must remove the Taiwanese flag from your service waistcoat and replace it with the Chinese flag,” Nicola Parker, a uniform standards and development manager at Emirates, wrote in an email.
The answer is simple. The attack on October 7 was an act of war by a despicable terriorest organization, voted in by and still largely supported by the Palestinian people. If Hamas cared anything about their people, they never would have attacked Israel in the first place, which they knew would result in this war, or taken 250 hostages,many of whom they have mercifully murdered. The fact that they are getting so much sympathy from around the world is mind boggling. Where is the outrage and demonstrations against Russia for its assault on Ukraine, or the Muslims on their own people in Sudan, where tens of thousands of people continue to be murdered? Israel is the only democratic and civilized country in the Middle East , yet continues to be vilified as the heartless aggressors for only defending its people from this atrocity ever happening again.