There has been a lot of chatter at Delta Air Lines the past few days about one particular flight attendant, who is now no longer with the company.
Delta’s award-winning, anti-union flight attendant
Kevin Jennings was a senior Delta Air Lines flight attendant who on the surface you’d think the airline would really like.
In 2019 she was one of the winners of Delta’s “Chairman’s Club Award,” which is Delta’s most prestigious peer-to-peer employee recognition program. As it’s described, this is intended to:
“Honor women and men across the company’s worldwide operation who embody reliability, innovation, thoughtfulness and servant leadership and who demonstrate the highest standards of service to customers, coworkers and the communities Delta serves.”
Jennings has also been vehemently anti-union. Delta is the only major US airline where flight attendants aren’t unionized, and Delta management has done everything to keep it that way. There are once again new efforts to unionize Delta flight attendants. Jennings has supported management’s position throughout all of this, and has been extremely vocal.
As you might expect, this has divided Delta employees, with some agreeing with her stance, and others strongly disagreeing.
Some controversial social media posts…
Union efforts at Delta aside, Jennings has received increased scrutiny for her social media posts, especially in recent weeks. AJC notes some of the recent social media posts she has made.
Jennings used the Twitter handle @kevintheflygirl, and has made quite some controversial comments.
For example, in response to a Tweet about ANTIFA, she said:
“I see plenty of scrawny black anarchists out there too. And none of them are social distancing or really wearing masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19. I have numerous white friends who live on Lake Street in MSP, BTW, it’s their neighborhood too.”
In response to a Tweet about Trump’s Tweet about Baltimore, she said:
“I’m not black, I’m white, and I saw a rat running along my back fence…I’m just saying :)”
In response to a Tweet claiming that black lives only matter to black people when a white person kills one of them, she responded:
“This is the part I agree with and don’t understand.”
Her controversial Tweets are nothing new. In 2017 she was Tweeting about NFL players “taking a knee.”
This flight attendant has now “left” Delta
Jennings is no longer at Delta, as of this week. In a statement, a Delta Spokesperson said the following:
“We have zero tolerance for racism, bigotry and hateful acts. The employee no longer works at Delta.”
However, the company has refused to confirm whether Jennings quit, was fired, or took an early retirement package, which the company had been offering. Jennings herself also refused to provide a comment.
Bottom line
Jennings has been a well known Delta flight attendant, both for her anti-union efforts, and for her social media posts. On the one hand, I’m sure management loved her advocating for them when it came to unionizing, since this is something the company has put a lot of effort into. She has even won awards for being an employee who “embodies Delta values.”
It would appear that in light of the current environment her social media posts received more scrutiny. She’s no longer a Delta flight attendant, though we don’t know if she was fired, quit, or just took an early-out package.
Many airlines have warned employees regarding social media use, and to exercise good judgment and avoid controversy, even in private online settings. I think it’s fair to say that she wasn’t doing that…
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