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Home  >  Flight Attendant  >  Flight Attendants Learn How To Punch And Eye-Poke Unruly Passengers
Flight Attendant

Flight Attendants Learn How To Punch And Eye-Poke Unruly Passengers

Matthew Klint Posted onJuly 31, 2021July 31, 2021 19 Comments

As the skies remain unfriendly, flight attendants are taking self-defense courses with specific emphasis on how to deal with unruly passengers. That includes training on how to punch and eye-poke passengers should the need arise.

Flight Attendants Learn Self-Defense In New Classes Taught By TSA

A poll by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) released this week notes that 85% of flight attendants have dealt with unruly passengers in 2021 while 17% have experienced physical incidents. Nearly 60% of flight attendants say they have dealt with at least five unruly passengers this year.

AFA President Sara Nelson noted:

“This survey confirms what we all know, the vitriol, verbal and physical abuse from a small group of passengers is completely out of control, and is putting other passengers and flight crew at risk.”

With the mask mandate likely to be extended due to concerns over the delta variant, the poor behavior onboard is unlikely to let up anytime soon. As a result, flight attendants are turning to self-defense classes in order to protect themselves from a potential physical encounter in the skies.

These self-defense classes, taught by Federal Air Marshals from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have resumed for the first time since the pandemic started. With passenger misbehavior onboard at all-time highs, flight attendants are learning how to protect themselves and others.

Drilling in an us versus them mentality, an Air Marshal can be heard in the clip below warning the flight attendants:

“You are going to possibly die! You need to defend yourself at all costs!”

Flight attendants are learning self-defense moves including how to punch and eye-poke passengers.

 

I must admit, flight attendant “Carrie” in the video above seems to enjoy beating up the mannequin far too much…

Nelson believes the problem is not directly related to masks and wants to make harsher penalties for

“This is not just about masks as some have attempted to claim. There is a lot more going on here and the solutions require a series of actions in coordination across aviation.

“It is time to make the FAA ‘zero tolerance’ policy permanent, the Department of Justice to utilize existing statute to conduct criminal prosecution, and implement a series of actions proposed by our union to keep problems on the ground and respond effectively in the event of incidents.”

While I’m onboard with her call to make the harsh penalties permanent, given the fact that 75% of incidents onboard are mask-related, it seems hard to make that argument with a straight face.

But whatever the root cause, poor behavior is persisting and flight attendants are now training to deal with it physically, should that become necessary.

CONCLUSION

Flight attendants are learning self-defense moves including how to punch and eye-poke passengers. While a sad sign of the times, the move comes as violence onboard continues in the United States. Indeed, a new survey suggests the behavior problem onboard may be more widespread than we thought.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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19 Comments

  1. John Ryan Reply
    July 31, 2021 at 3:19 pm

    These flight attendants are just taking their jobs way too seriously. All they need to do is get me from point a to point b. No masks but maybe just a bag of peanuts. Meanwhile now they’re learning self defense. I think I may need to move out of the US!

  2. derek Reply
    July 31, 2021 at 3:41 pm

    FA’s who eye-poke should be punished by having their own eye removed except if there is a hijacking.

  3. UA-NYC Reply
    July 31, 2021 at 4:17 pm

    With right wing domestic terrorism on the rise and (per the FBI) our biggest danger, smart for them to get the training

    • cargocult Reply
      August 1, 2021 at 2:22 am

      Is this the same FBI that reported black folx as having been arrested for 53.3% of murders? How many people have died of alleged white supremacist domestic terrorism? The 1/6 LARPers didn’t kill a single person. How many (black) folx have died at the hands of black folx? Is this the same FBI that has been entrapping Muslim men into terrorism plots? Perhaps even the “foiled kidnapping” of Gov. Whitmer? I’ll put this list of articles including ones from MAGA rags like the Guardian and the New York Times, but I know you won’t read or respond to them. The space between UA-TDS’s ears is a fact-free zone.

      https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/tables/table-43

      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/nov/16/fbi-entrapment-fake-terror-plots
      https://theintercept.com/2015/03/16/howthefbicreatedaterrorist/
      http://hrlr.law.columbia.edu/hrlr-online/the-anatomy-of-a-federal-terrorism-prosecution-a-blueprint-for-repression-and-entrapment/
      https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/15/magazine/fbi-international-terrorism-informants.html

      https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/564412-intercept-reporter-compares-fbi-involvement-in-whitmer-plot-to-sting-operations
      https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kenbensinger/michigan-kidnapping-gretchen-whitmer-fbi-informant

      • UA-NYC Reply
        August 1, 2021 at 4:53 pm

        Man, looks like a certain anti-vaxxer is all out of breath from trying to outrun Delta! Getting tired yet, anti-vaxxing chump?

        ‘Muricans half as smart as you have wizened up the past week (driving the 7 day rolling average up) and gotten the jab (to join the other 3,500,000,000 people globally). Science is a wonderful thing and all.

        Keep running moron!!!

        • cargocult Reply
          August 1, 2021 at 7:18 pm

          It seems that UA-TDS thinks that using the word “science” repeatedly somehow imbues him with an aura of scientific authority when in fact the “followers of science” are just part of the mindless cult of authoritarianism. I wonder if the box humper ever took any math beyond algebra or science beyond basic biology. Note how he never responds to any of the evidence I provide. I can easily “outrun Delta” but look at how he tries to doge any evidence debunking his lies. All UA-TDS can do is spew ad hominem and wish death upon me. Progressives are so smart and empathetic. Who wouldn’t want a totalitarian state run by them? Only the deplorable and insane!

          • UA-NYC
            August 1, 2021 at 10:10 pm

            I don’t wish death on anyone…but the world might just be a bit better off if Delta caught up to you. And you did it to yourself. Keep running!

          • cargocult
            August 1, 2021 at 10:26 pm

            Be it 1917 or 2021, why is it that leftists wish for their political opponents to die? As stupid and reprehensible as I know UA-TDS to be, I don’t believe I’ve ever expressed a desire for him to be hurt in anyway. He says I am a “scourge of misinformation,” and yet it is he who demonstrates zero understanding of science, statistics or liberty when he spews leftist hatred and DNC talking points propaganda. I don’t expect he will ever respond to all the links I post regarding the pandemic or crime. How can he? Does he think people can’t see through his partisan hate?

            https://liveandletsfly.com/southwest-airlines-child-mask-disability/?replytocom=331150#comment-331150

            UA-NYC
            July 27, 2021 at 5:32 pm
            STFD, anti-science, anti-vaxxer who is a scourge of misinformation on this blog…you’re part of the problem, hope Delta has its way with you

          • cargocult
            August 1, 2021 at 10:34 pm

            I wonder if UA-TDS wishes death upon all the black and brown folx who aren’t getting vaccinated. Would that be racist or is it okay to wish death for such deplorables even if they are BIPOC folx? Or is it the fault of white folx enacting white supremacy that more BIPOC folx aren’t getting vaccinated?

            https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/latest-data-on-covid-19-vaccinations-race-ethnicity/

            “Overall, across these 40 states, the percent of White people who have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose (48%) was roughly 1.3 times higher than the rate for Black people (36%) and 1.2 times higher than the rate for Hispanic people (41%) as of July 19, 2021.”

            “As of July 19, less than half of Black and Hispanic people have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose in the vast majority of states reporting data.”

          • UA-NYC
            August 2, 2021 at 12:49 am

            Triggered much anti-vaxxer? ~97-99% of those admitted to hospitals or dying from Covid past month were unvaccinated. But you of course know better than science.

            Good luck and keep running!

          • cargocult
            August 2, 2021 at 5:00 pm

            Keep pounding away with those oh-so-scary numbers about cases. What matters is how many people are dying (nowhere near as many as were before vaccinations) and whether the health care system is overwhelmed or not. The vast majority of the most vulnerable folx have been vaccinated. Unless the vaccine doesn’t work, why should society have to bend over backwards to accommodate those who are fine with taking the risk of remaining unvaccinated? Are you an anti-vaxxer who doesn’t believe vaccines work or a “just one life”-er who cannot tolerate any risk and should stay at home humping boxes in your basement? I know UA-TDS won’t respond with anything resembling and intelligent reply, but I hope others will read the links I post.

            https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/how-bad-could-the-delta-variant-get.html

            “In the U.K., which has had, after India, perhaps the world’s most striking Delta wave, the infection fatality rate may have fallen as much as 20-fold from previous waves. And it appears possible, at least, that for all the public alarm about British reopening in the midst of the Delta wave, that new case numbers may already have peaked and begun to decline. If this holds up, it is likely that the country’s seven-day rolling death total during the Delta wave will peak, a few weeks from now, below 100. In January, it was over a thousand.

            “In Israel, the story is much the same. According to the invaluable tracker at Our World in Data, the number of new cases has climbed from a peak below ten per day in early June to more than a thousand now, toward the end of July — a tenfold increase in about six weeks. And while, again, the death totals will likely continue to grow in the weeks ahead, over the same period of time, the country’s rolling seven-day death total has climbed from about 1.5 to 1.7.”

            No need for me to run. I can amble along in a leisurely manner, COVID and mask-free, while “living my best life!” Does that make U mad, bro?

          • cargocult
            August 2, 2021 at 5:02 pm

            Also, anyone who speaks of “knowing better than science” doesn’t understand science. He probably doesn’t understand English very well, either.

  4. Jackson Waterson Reply
    July 31, 2021 at 6:44 pm

    Are passengers going to receive training on how to punch and poke the eyes of unruly flight attendants who abuse their authority over flight safety and make false accusations against passengers who complain about poor service? Peaceful citizens need protection from unhinged and power tripping flight attendants.

    @UA-NYC

    You sound dumb for using the FBI as a source when they are regarded by tens of million as the biggest criminal and domestic terrorist organization in the country. The rational public needs protection from enforcers of leftist laws. Current Republican leaders are closeted leftists who are bought and paid for by the globalist elite to tell the rational public to do nothing/stand down/stand by while these politicians pretend they will do something. They just run out the clock.

    • UA-NYC Reply
      August 3, 2021 at 12:18 am

      Just leave NYC already and move to Hungary or some other right wing bastion of intolerance where you will fit in with your kind

      • cargocult Reply
        August 3, 2021 at 1:40 pm

        Folx like UA-TDS don’t understand that the Russian intelligentsia were the woke progressive elites of their day. They succeeded fabulously in creating their progressive paradise. Who doesn’t miss the USSR? Equality and bread lines for all! Only a deplorable nationalist white supremacist wouldn’t want a United Soviet States of America.

  5. Mrlasssen Reply
    July 31, 2021 at 6:47 pm

    This has gone to far now, what’s next for these flight attendants, flack jackets.

  6. emercycrite Reply
    July 31, 2021 at 8:06 pm

    LMAO

  7. Jeff Reply
    August 1, 2021 at 2:53 am

    Punching, eye poking along with other offensive and defensive moves has been taught to pilots and flight attendants since 9/11 on a yearly basis except during Covid in 2020. This is nothing new. These moves are only suppose to be used on a comparable basis.. meaning you don’t poke eyes out or punch someone if they just verbally mouth off. Crews are not suppose to strike a passenger till they’re hit first or the passenger makes an obvious attempt to hit you. (i.e. throws a punch but misses)

  8. Pingback: Airline workers taking self-defense courses to deal with unruly passengers - Rifnote

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