The leader of the powerful Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) wants Trump protestors who stormed the U.S. Capitol yesterday banned from commercial airlines.
AFA Wants Trump Protestors Banned From Airlines
Yesterday, the U.S. Capitol was invaded for the first time since the War of 1812, when the British looted and burned the building. Pro-Trump protestors descended upon the Capitol and overwhelmed Capitol Police, taking over offices and even descending to the House and Senate floors.
This came after a day of several disruptive flights in which pro-Trump supporters heckled Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), projected a Trump sign on the ceiling of the aircraft, and in which many refused to wear masks.
The preceding days have prompted airlines to move flights crews out of downtown Washington, DC hotels and forced American Airlines to add staffing at Washington National Airport in order to better pinpoint potential agitators.
But the AFA is not stopping there. President Sara Nelson has demanded that such protestors be banned from flying.
“Air travel is safe because everyone follows a strict set of rules, based on the spirit that ‘we’re all in this together.’ The mob mentality behavior that took place on several flights to the D.C. area yesterday was unacceptable and threatened the safety and security of every single person onboard. It will not happen again. There’s a reason that there are strict penalties and fines for failing to comply with crewmember instructions. Enforcement keeps everyone safe.
“Our first priority in aviation safety and security is to keep any problems on the ground. Some of the people who traveled in our planes yesterday participated in the insurrection at the Capitol today. Their violent and seditious actions at the Capitol today create further concern about their departure from the DC area. Acts against our democracy, our government, and the freedom we claim as Americans must disqualify these individuals from the freedom of flight.
Nelson is an extreme partisan zealot…just read her tweets from the last four years. Her response to extreme partisan zealotry is also extreme: ban them.
View From The Wing argues to “capriciously deny freedom of travel to people outside of the rule of law – is a mob response and no better than that of the protestors.”
He also adds that such a move “fails to draw a distinction between people who exercised their first amendment right of protest and those who acted illegally and violently.”
Maybe I’m not reading between the lines in Nelson’s comments, but I do see that distinction. If she is indeed singling out those who stormed and looted the Capitol versus those who peacefully protested, I would be in agreement with her.
Then again, beyond the few who very publicly showcased their identity, how do you actually determine who engaged in these activities? The answer is you likely cannot and her action plan becomes impossible to actually act upon.
CONCLUSION
Sadly, I don’t see this ending well. Protestors will point to Nelson’s silence when protestors stormed and looted over the summer, finding her outrage selective and convenient to her partisanship. That may fuel even further disruptions onboard. This isn’t about equivalency, mind you, but perceived equivalency. I expect disruptive flights in the days ahead and even more violence as President-Elect Biden assumes office in two weeks. Folks, if you have time, take a look at U.S. history in the 1850s todays. The parallels are not comforting…
Do you agree with the AFA that those Trump protestors who entered the Capitol should be banned from flying commercial?
Do they ban Antifa? BLM? Or just those that don’t meet their political beliefs.
Legit question.
That’s why this sentiment from the AFA, while reasonable and appropriate considering the treasonous actions of the protestors yesterday, will only further fan the flames of division.
Who’s the president of Antifa? The airlines should ban that person.
Yeah. Antifa and BLM stormed the Capitol while the legislature was in session. Love the mental gymnastics!
Anyone who actually compares BLM protests this summer to what happened yesterday is way off base. For the vast majority of the summer, protests were mostly peaceful with the exception of a significant MINORITY of rioters who chose to loot and vandalize on the heels of these protests. As well, that were, again for the most part, protesting real and obvious systemic racism that leads to countless police murders of black citizens in this country. They were not gathering to promote right wing hate and idiotic conspiracy theories.
And, I’m sorry, but did you hear of BLM protestors flying to DC and harassing passengers on flights?
Yesterday was vastly different. The MAJORITY of these thugs gathered and stormed the Capitol building, a sacred place to our country and democracy. This was not some bad elements within this group (as with BLM)…it was almost ALL of them. A mob. They were not there to be bring light to a cause that was righteous and desperately in need of attention. They were there to scream that Biden is a Pedophile and that Pence should be hanged for Treason based on wonky QAnon idiocy.
Yes, I think this idea of banning them from flights is silly. But for anyone to compare it to BLM and being a “double standard” is sadly misplaced. The only double standard was how different police were handling yesterday in comparison to this summer.
I’m in agreement, but I do think my point that “this isn’t about equivalency, mind you, but perceived equivalency” is spot on. I’m hearing it today. This is the narrative we must deal with and no amount of distinguishing will be helpful to a large subset of the population.
The Capitol can’t really be stormed. It is the people’s house, after all.
It is a place of business that only exists because it is allowed to by the consent of the governed. While it does still have that (and had it all of yesterday as well), it can be revoked at any time, and trying to hold it up as sacred is just as dangerous to democracy as anything that transpired yesterday.
@stuart cmon. You are so hypocritical here. Sure the vast majority of BLM “protesters” were peaceful, but others burned down buildings, attacked police, looted, ect.
There were likely over 100,000 people on the mall yesterday and maybe a few thousand were in the capital? If that? If you were objective you would say the same thing, that a vast majority of those yesterday were peaceful, but you won’t because you hate all of those people and you don’t care if they were peaceful or breaking the law.
Except the 100,000 people (though likely less than that) were all right wing extremists and white nationalists that were egged on by a deranged leader and QAnon theories that the government is somehow a pedophile ring and that the election was rigged and stolen.
BLM is a peaceful group that advocates protests to end systemic racism and the murder of black citizens at the hands of police. A real and seen issue that is not some debunked conspiracy that’s surrounded by bizarre lies.
Trump anarchists want white supremacy and fascist order. BLM simply asks for the end of racism in this country and an equal chance for all citizens.
See the difference?
So @Stuart, people can only protest if they agree with your viewpoint?
That sounds like something the Chinese Communist Party would agree with. It is 100% UNAMERICAN
Now that said, those who committed felonies must be prosecuted under Trump’s executive order, which calls for 10 years in prison
What are you guys going to do when they start arresting these people and finding out that they are agitators who were also causing trouble in Portland and Seattle and many of whom are not Trump supporters but opportunists. Funny how we don’t here much about the Nashville bomber anymore……because he was a Bernie-bro. Can’t have any of that.. The head of BLM said he wanted to “burn the whole thing down”. You should be celebrating the Capitol clowns. You want a reset in this horrible/racist/etc country…..you might just get it! Personally, I don’t give a shit what happens.
Looking at the photos of yesterdays events (international news site coverage) I find a very stark contrast to the coverage of ‘peaceful’ protests last year (witnessing it also in DC).
Where are the barricades? Where are the torn down monuments? Where are the free state zones? Where are the broken or bordered up shop windows? Where are the attempts? All we got is a guy in a funny hat. But I guess, as quite a few Muslim or Sikh people can confirm does warrant the terrorist designation.
You are truly delusional. The “93% peaceful” protests (read: riots) caused massive destruction and loss of life which Democrats refused to denounce, all based on the false pretense that cops were hunting down unarmed black men with impunity. As for your claim that most of the protestors outside the Capitol participated in the storming, did you see how big the crowds were? Just because Trump is an awful person doesn’t mean that he wasn’t wronged. The election process in Pennsylvania was patently unconstitutional. If you believe in rule of law, it has to apply to everyone equally, not extra-equally for your favored protected classes.
I am not a fan of the idea of banning people from flying when they are legally free to move out and about.
I am a fan of criminal trespassers and seditious raiders being subject to due process in a court of law while being prosecuted.
Calling Nelson an extreme partisan zealot after seeing all the damage unleashed by Trump and his allies in and out of government is like calling Trump the winner and claiming that Biden-Harris’ win is a “stolen election”.
Let’s get real, the real extreme partisan zealots are those who have enabled or been indifferent to the anti-democratic operations of the Trump Administration and its Republican enablers beyond.
Nelson is a zealot. This has nothing to do with her reaction to yesterday’s treason, but years of reading and listening to her. I am also a fan of criminal trespassers and seditious raiders being subject to due process in a court of law while being prosecuted. As to your last point, I would certainly apply the same label. But again, my label of Nelson has nothing to do with her comments from yesterday, but based upon her comments from many years.
There is nothing but false equivalency in lumping in AFA’s Nelson into the same category as the Trump-supporting zealots who stormed Capitol Hill yesterday.
Such false equivalency is best called out as a form of moral relativity run amok.
Who is doing that?
Day after research has the capital looters antifa. Several have been captured on video and the proof is that this was most likley orchestrated and not by Trump. You can watch and those causing mayhem are clearly NOT MAGA types. For a year we saw left/communist paid mercenaries burning city shopping districts. Mayors condoned it and had police stand down. The Trump Rally yesterday was the same as all his rallies. Peaceful and orderly. No waste on the ground or trashed parks. There is one video of the police opening barriers and letting in the antifa hoodlums into the Capital Complex. So get your facts strait or I guess at this point facts don’t matter? How is an Airline going to identify a protester to ban them? If you have a hat on? Im sure glad they took the tetrahydrosline out of visine.
You’re free to present facts right here. Comment away.
Oh go piss off chump, yesterday had nothing to do with Antifa and everything to do with Trump’s Terrorists. Look in the mirror.
And the FBI is in the process of finding and identifying these people – not that hard to them put them on the no-fly list. All the Proud Boys, Three Percenters, and Q Anon “leaders” should be put on it immediately.
Don’t forget “the Oath Keepers” who really aren’t great oath keepers when it comes to what it means for fidelity to the US Constitution. We had a female Trump-has-won USAF veteran storm the Capitol yesterday and get shot while trying to bust down the doors into where some legislators were still sheltering during the invasion.
The intersection between some of the Capitol Police and “Oath Keeper” followers online and otherwise socially will be an interesting investigation.
You pipe down.
You seem very knowledgeable on the subject. Are you just slinging hate or is this your area of expertise?
Love how the Trumpettes don’t even have the balls to stand up and admit they were wrong. If we do ascribe to the “logic” you use, that idiot shaman who supports Qanon and Trump is a antifa agent? Seriously?
Cowards like yourself and Trump never will admit to being wrong.
As usual this blog is ahead of the curve. We have been beating up on white Republican males and they did not disappoint. They showed they are no better than the people they don’t like.
I think state and federal prosecutors will have no issues humiliating trump now. He might get arrested and charged on jan/20 as soon as biden is sworn in.
I think this is a great opportunity for the country to come together. Democrats need to understand some of trump supporters grievances which i have begun to sympathize with. Democrats do seem to be tone deaf. On the other hand many of the Republican politicians are pure evil. They will set fire to the country just for their ambitions and they need to be kicked out of the party.
Trump has gotten most of the country engaged into the political process. This is great. A little hot air and rhetoric is a small price for the country to pay for it.
I am very optimistic about America’s future. But in the near future will be some/ lot of pain.
There is zero chance of any “coming together”. We will not forget.
Matthew – I do question why you get into political issues. While this is “travel” related it is really just a political issue. It seems a lot of bloggers take the bait these days, when it really is not what people read them for. This discussion will inevitably not be about the FA union.
That being said, I do appreciate your objectivity on these issues. I actually can’t tell how you side politically, which is great as a journalist. I cannot say that about anyone else on flyertalk, where they make their political beliefs very clear when they dive into these “travel” stories.
For my opinion, this reminds me of the end of the Roman Republic. The parallels to me are quite striking. On the one hand we have a greedy, corrupt, autocratic ruling class and their minions, and on the other we have the populists. They rigged the election and tell us to shut up and take it.
The next thing you know the Gracchi brothers are lying dead and Sulla and Caesar are marching on Rome, to mix things up from different decades. Maybe it will be faster this time.
This from a guy who calls others with differing opinions, “pedophiles.” You lost all credibility weeks ago here. Perhaps it’s you that needs to “touch yourself” more in between shooting up road signs and racing your diesel truck at midnight with flags waving.
Deplorables. Hillary nailed the label.
I only call one certain “man” a pedophile, one who pops into the comments section between molestation sessions and is quite rude to anyone that disagrees with him, And you seem to have the same snotty attitude towards us populares yourself dear friend.
You don’t seem to actually travel, or even comment on anything travel related – you are just here to cause anarchy. Why not just take it to Parler? Go be among your own people.
I never see you actually commenting on travel either. You seem obsessed with us Trump supporters (And you’ll have plenty to obsess about when he’s back in four years). I traveled to Croatia and Colombia last month while you huddled in your tiny NY apartment forcing your “fishes” to try on jockstraps.
The QAnon-Lord Trump worshippers believe that their Lord Trump is fighting a global conspiracy of “powerful” Satan-worshiping pedophiles . So no surprise that such deluded Trump supporters imagine pedophiles everywhere (and stolen elections too). This is the successor to the lunatic fringe’s imagination about there being terrorists everywhere.
While most of the Trump-supporting protesters in DC yesterday were not engaged in violating federal law, quite clearly there were a lot of Trump supporters who trespassed on Capitol Hill and were engaged in sedition against our country and its constitutional order. A no-fly listing for either bunch of Lord Trump worshippers is unnecessary, for the former are worthy of pity and the latter are worthy of being unable to fly as a consequences of being prosecuted ….. not persecuted.
There are 75 million of us pal, and we’re not going away.
Yeah. You lot will just cry after attempting sedition saying “they used tear gas on us”.
You claim to love the constitution but are okay with Trump tramping on it.
Have the balls to come out and say you want a dictatorship. Oh right. You’re a Trumpette. So yours were surrendered years back
Yeah, you are. Your 15 minutes is over.
Haha think so? We’ll see. Do you think you’ve won? Last year the left legitimized political violence by BLM thugs. Yesterday, they got a taste of it themselves. You think these tactics wont be turned on you? They rigged the election and that means tens of millions of us are angry, and you’ll see more and more of us from now on. So get ready. If you think we’re trouble no, just wait.
Interesting how you said you didn’t vote for Trump, and didn’t care about politics. Now clearly indicating you think the election was “rigged” (of course, it wasn’t) and you are part of the 75mm people who voted for Trump.
What a delusional little man you are.
I never said I didn’t vote for him boy-lover. That was probably someone else you trash talked when you weren’t cowing in your little apartment with your face diaper and victims to keep you company
“Yesterday, the U.S. Capitol was compromised for the first time since the War of 1812” – seriously?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/03/02/a-look-at-the-history-of-attacks-in-the-u-s-capitol-44-years-after-the-weather-underground-bombing/
All deplorable acts, but not quite an invasion, wouldn’t you say?
A guy in a viking helmet and old lady, unarmed, “invasion?”
Does invasion mean the same as compromised? My English isn’t perfect and certainly not on a legal dictionary level.
I find it amusing that you considered Los Angeles to not be safe. I don’t think you’re in much danger of masses of Trump supporters attacking you or your family there.
Different kinds of threats.
Not correct, it was breached at the Brent Kavanaugh hearings.
@Stuart. Ha. No I don’t. You literally state they are doing the same thing, but you “believe” in the cause for one, but don’t for the other.
You can call Trump supporters white supremacist, but did you go out and meet any of them? No, you make a blanket statement about a group of people that you know nothing about. If I did that about BLM I would be called RACIST!
See what you are doing? The exact same thing you accuse the Trump supporters of doing.
Comes straight from Saul Alinsky – “Accuse your opponent of what you are doing, to create confusion and to inculcate voters against evidence of your own guilt”
You should read his book, it is enlightening how his ideas are being executed today.
Yes, I did. They are everywhere in the city this week. You can’t help but witness and hear them. They are nasty, angry white men and women. Most of them trash. Further, watch the video of their actions on the planes this week. Should tell you more about them than I can. They are deplorable and awful human beings.
I hope Matthew is not banned because the AFA leader wants it on the basis that Matthew was expelled on a United flight for taking photos.
These people who broke windows are very bad but have not been convicted. If convicted, does a criminal record result in a ban? If so, oh no for many.
Maybe the AFA should create a fund to encourage th ese people to fly Sprit?
Protestors? I think the word you’re looking for is terrorists.
Most definitely ban them
Those are domestic terrorist and airlines don’t need terrorist act up in three sky
Would you call people who smashed windows over the summer terrorists? They’re vandals. That’s about it. Trump’s gone in 2 weeks. Try to keep it together man!
Your “whataboutism” is laughable. But I realize it’s pretty much all you’ve ever had, going all the way back to “What about her emails?”
Now let’s talk about the discrepancies between the police presence at BLM protests in D.C. vs. yesterday, and the fact that FOUR TIMES as many people were arrested at Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing compared to yesterday. I wouldn’t be surprised if the cop gingerly helping the trespassing lady back down the Capitol Steps will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
But we will sleep well at night that the entire world now sees what we have known all along: This borderline-illiterate pathological liar with the maturity of a 7 year old boy and emotional stability of a 13 year old girl is, without a doubt, a FAILED “President” and the worst in this nation’s history.
@Ken
Your post is what is wrong with the country. Someone as called out for hypocrisy, and you are making excuses for it.
This idea that it is OK for one side to do something but not the other is causing great harm to the country.
Yeah after he lost the election the right said “what’s the harm in humoring him”.
Then that leads to the Trump Terrorists invading the Capitol yesterday and assaulting democracy.
25th Amendment immediately.
[deleted]
Let’s attack ideas, not people.
You know this [guy] regularly calls people nasty names here, right?
And he has been admonished as well to keep it clean.
Calling Trump supporters “terrorists” is clean?
Perhaps you are one of those peeps that destroyed the windows at capitol ? FBI might just be looking for you soon
I wish I had been there. I would have unfurled a banner reading “liveandletsfly4ever!” on the senate floor. Alas, I watched it from my home office, laughing through most of it.
Protesters breached the capital when Brent Kavanaugh hearings for Supreme court took place. They were not Trump supporters doing this.
Right, cause those hundred or so women who peacefully protested are basically the same as the thousands of Trump Terrorists who breached the grounds, brought in guns and IEDs, waved their Confederate flags, and caused immense damage.
You people are pathetic.
@Matthew – really?
I deleted the comment. Totally out-of-line. Sorry for the delay. Joe-such personal attacks are not appropriate.
And the “mostly peaceful” protests of last summer? Dozens of people killed and billions of dollars of property destroyed, Obviously the storming of the Capitol was horrible, but why weren’t you and your woke brethren decrying the mayhem and distruction at the hands of BLM and Antifa?
This does it.
“In a statement released Thursday morning, Sund detailed the violent actions of the rioters saying that Capitol Police and other law enforcement officers were “actively attacked” with metal pipes and other weapons.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/07/politics/capitol-police-reaction-details/index.html
Now there are only terrorists, terrorist leaders and their supporters some of whom seem to be on this blog. Lethal force is in order to deal with these terrorists.
There are reports the Capitol police was infiltrated by these terrorists as well. We need to hire some police officers who will not hesitate to shoot whites
Here is a proof this was an attempted coup
https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/ksolcp/capital_police_waving_people_in_past_the_gates/
Half hearted maybe but still a coup.