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Home  >  Flight Attendant  >  Tasers For Flight Attendants? No Thank You.
Flight Attendant

Tasers For Flight Attendants? No Thank You.

Matthew Klint Posted onMarch 10, 2023March 10, 2023 45 Comments

Sara Nelson, often called the world’s most powerful flight attendant, has floated the idea of flight attendants being armed with tasers in case of violence onboard flights. My answer is no thank you; there are better ways to handle violence.

No Thanks: Why I’m Against Flight Attendants With Tasers Onboard

In light of the recent incident on a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Boston in which a crazed passenger repeatedly stabbed a flight attendant with a broken metal spoon, CNN invited Nelson on to discuss flight attendant safety. Nelson is President of the AFA-CWA union which advocated for a number of flight attendant groups, including at United Airlines.

When asked about tools flight attendants need in order to reduce violence onboard, she said:

“There has been a lot of discussion about whether or not flight attendants should have tasers. I think we need to look at that discussion again.”

Sorry Sara. That’s a terrible idea. First, I doubt these weapons will serve as deterrents for those who act up onboard. Second, imagine if the bad passenger snatches the taser. Suddenly, a bad situation becomes much worse. Third, I do not want a power-tripping flight attendant armed with a device that can severely hurt me. Sorry. No way.

Passengers can and will rise to the occasion when bad behavior flares up onboard. As we saw onboard the United flight I referenced above, passengers tackled the man when he attacked the flight attendant and then subdued him. He was tied up with belts from the waists of passengers and closely watched until the flight could land and the FBI could rest him.

In other words, the system in its present form is not ideal, but better than the alternatives. The last thing we need is armed flight attendants onboard airplanes.

CONCLUSION

I think arming flight attendants with tasers is a terrible idea. The status quo is not perfect, but adding an extra element of uncertainty into dealing with violent predators onboard strikes me as the surest way to make a bad situation even worse.

Tasers onboard. Yes or no?


(H/T: View From The Wing)

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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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45 Comments

  1. AJ Reply
    March 10, 2023 at 9:48 am

    Nelson: “put on your mask over your nose and mouth before I taser you!” What will she think of next?

  2. Billy Bob Reply
    March 10, 2023 at 10:04 am

    All the Republicans that advocate for teachers to have guns in classrooms should be 100% on board with this idea

    • AJ Reply
      March 10, 2023 at 10:34 am

      Tasers > guns for Nelson. Interesting though that we had a potential labor secretary pushing tasers in the workforce. Not sure how that aligns with her political agenda(s) but glad she won’t be labor secretary–even though the current nominee may not be any better.

      –After Joe Biden won the 2020 United States presidential election, Nelson was mentioned as a possible cabinet appointee for a position in the United States Department of Labor. In February 2023, it was reported that Nelson was being considered by the Biden administration as a potential successor to secretary of labor Marty Walsh after his resignation.

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/02/24/labor-secretary-julie-su-sara-nelson-marty-walsh-biden/

      • Brandon Reply
        March 10, 2023 at 10:54 am

        It’s not worth engaging with this smooth brain. He will just parrot whatever the media told him. (Not because it is derogatory to “Repubs”, but anyone who starts a conversation with “Reeeee x party” is clearly lacking triple digit IQ.)

        • Jan Reply
          March 10, 2023 at 11:52 am

          I like this idea. Then the first pax who gets tased, especially if a minority, sues Sara Nelson and her gang to hell for $165 billion dollars, wins the lawsuit and diminishes the union’s power. It would be glorious.

          • Jan
            March 10, 2023 at 11:53 am

            I like this idea. Then the first pax who gets tased, especially if a minority, sues Sara Nelson and her gang to hell for $165 billion dollars, wins the lawsuit and diminishes the union’s power. It would be glorious.

          • Brandon
            March 10, 2023 at 11:57 am

            Entirely possible. Especially if they prove it was unprovoked.

          • AJ
            March 10, 2023 at 12:16 pm

            Unfortunately I’m sure Ms. Nelson would find a way to make harm from use of tasers liability-free.

  3. Brandon Reply
    March 10, 2023 at 10:53 am

    I see no issue here. If it’s locked up in the galley, there is no reason to think that it would be abused. Even by a “power tripping” FA. I say this as someone who had both a mask incident with a pax (that I was compensated for as I did nothing wrong) and then discriminated against due to my asthma for 2 years. Personally, giving FA’s the ability to handle someone like these people isn’t a problem in my opinion.

    • Billy Bob Reply
      March 10, 2023 at 11:10 am

      I parrot what the media tells me? OK chief. You’re telling a person who’s entire posts are copy and pastes from somewhere else plus links to dubious media sources that I parrot what the media tells me. Bless your heart

      • Brandon Reply
        March 10, 2023 at 11:13 am

        Awe, poor fella gets angry about being called out for the smooth brain he is. Hey, buttercup, how about pointing out just one “quote” of mine from “dubious” media sources. I’ll wait.

        (This should be truly comical to which you spend time to come up empty handed.)

        • Billy Bob Reply
          March 10, 2023 at 11:25 am

          You were replying to AJ saying my posts are parroting the media. HIS posts are copy and pastes, get it? Or do I need to draw you a picture?

          • Brandon
            March 10, 2023 at 11:37 am

            Oh, this is great. Of course you couldn’t find anything. Even if you did draw a picture, I’m sure it would be outside the lines of the coloring book you stole. Go on…. Please, keep digging. While your at it, how about that quote I asked for. I mean if you are going to accuse one of something, you better god damn prove it.

          • Billy Bob
            March 10, 2023 at 11:45 am

            Obviously reading comprehension isn’t your strong suit, I said AJ copies and pastes. Unless you are also AJ… which would be totally unsurprising

        • AJ Reply
          March 10, 2023 at 11:42 am

          He was talking about me, but who cares honestly. It’s just noise as this point. They are just mad that they are losing. After all, Billy Bob himself was the one who predicted the mask mandate would be “100% permanent”. Their beloved leader, Joe Biden, is accused of all kinds of corruption, money laundering, pedophilia, treason, and satanic globalism. Yet they paint Biden to be a hero. The lies, deception and propaganda are truly astonishing.

          What’s more, the left thinks they can call you names on Twitter (& LALF) and that this will change minds on an issue. They are weak sheep surrounded by weak sheep. They believe everyone can be easily swayed by woke words, bullying, and shaming, like they are. They have no idea how to deal with strong-minded, freedom-loving individuals who reject groupthink and won’t bend the knee to their ridiculous, warped ideology. They have no power over me or many because we don’t give AF what they think and it infuriates them.

          I mean, I’d be infuriated too when realizing they held positions 100% in the wrong the past 3+ years:

          Johns Hopkins University professor Dr. Marty Makary told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic during its first hearing on Tuesday “the greatest perpetrator of misinformation during the pandemic has been the United States government” and listed multiple examples:

          – Covid was spread through surface transmission
          – That vaccinated immunity was far greater than natural immunity
          – That masks were effective. Now we have the definitive Cochrane review. What do you do with that review? Cochrane is the most authoritative evidence body in all of medicine and has been for decades. Do you just ignore it and not talk about it?
          – That myocarditis was more common after the infection than after the vaccine. Not true, it is 4-28 times more common after the vaccine.
          – That young people benefit from a booster, misinformation. Our two top experts on vaccines quit the FDA in protest over this particular issue, pushing boosters in young, healthy people. The data was never there. That’s why the CDC never disclosed hospitalization rates among boosted Americans under the age of 50.
          – That vaccine mandates would increase vaccination rates. A George Mason University study shows that it didn’t. It did one thing, it created “Never-Vaxxers” who are now not getting the childhood vaccines they need to get.

          “Over and over again, we’ve seen something that goes far beyond using your best judgment with the information at hand. We’ve seen something that is unforgivable, and that is the weaponization of medical research itself. The CDC putting out their own shoddy studies, like their own study on natural immunity looking at one state for two months, when they had data for years on all 50 states. Why did they only report that one sliver of data? Why did the salami slice the entire database? Because it gave them the result they wanted. The same with the masking studies. The data has now caught up in giant systematic reviews, and public health officials were intellectually dishonest. They lied to the American people.”

          Also, just a reminder that the biochemist who developed the PCR Technique, and won a Nobel Prize for it, once state that the PCR test could not detect viral sequences and was not useful or accurate in diagnostic applications. Strangely, he died in August 2019, supposedly from pneumonia complications, just 2 months before Event 201 (where the PCR test was war-gamed as primary diagnostic tool), and around 6 months before COVID-19 hit the air waves.

          Finally, Sara Nelson should hire Billy Bob and Aaron at this point. Three peas in the same pod. They need another pandemic or event in order to restore their failed vaccine passport agenda.

          May God protect us and deliver us from their evil.

          • Billy Bob
            March 10, 2023 at 11:47 am

            Copy and paste… proving my point

          • AJ
            March 10, 2023 at 11:51 am

            I do not care about your point–obviously. The internet is for sharing info and we have bigger problems. This is war. All assets deployed. With your comments, it’s always “look here and not there”, because you can’t debate the actual facts and things you were 100% wrong about. Sorry but not sorry about it.

            https://i.postimg.cc/4drxX2NQ/unnamed-1.png

          • Billy Bob
            March 10, 2023 at 2:28 pm

            Let me help you out… every hear of the acronym TLDR? Nobody is going to sit there and read these lengthy ramblings you put out. Keep it concise.

          • shiningseausa
            March 10, 2023 at 2:39 pm

            Just for clarity on the Cochrane study: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/10/opinion/masks-work-cochrane-study.html?campaign_id=39&emc=edit_ty_20230310&instance_id=87315&nl=opinion-today&regi_id=83539767&segment_id=127370&te=1&user_id=f286772a6726b8e7d0d1da2e91e7f0c9

          • Brandon
            March 10, 2023 at 2:51 pm

            Did Bob, bub, just say “every hear”? Wow.

          • AJ
            March 10, 2023 at 2:52 pm

            Yes I’ve used TLDR for Pete B. But if comments too long just skip and don’t read them. Many bulletin board type sites have an ignore function. I’m sure if Matthew ever changes comment systems, he will consider implementing that so we can all be happy.

      • Aaron Reply
        March 11, 2023 at 8:16 am

        The copy & paste for off-topic issues is strong with this one indeed. But, agendas need to be promoted, so…

        • AJ Reply
          March 11, 2023 at 8:25 am

          https://i.postimg.cc/J01n5cdk/276839-C7-52-D3-47-A5-BD15-DA2359-E9-F84-D.jpg

        • Aaron Reply
          March 11, 2023 at 11:40 am

          The delusion is even stronger.

          • AJ
            March 11, 2023 at 11:45 am

            Yeah, with your cult. Still accurate: https://i.postimg.cc/gc8NXBpX/Screen-Shot-2023-03-09-at-9-02-01-PM.png

  4. Scooter Reply
    March 10, 2023 at 11:21 am

    Yeah I don’t like this at all. Same with guns in a classroom. I don’t want poorly trained flight attendants with tasers. Especially with how easily the guy on the UA flight attacked the FA, there’s a strong chance he would have gotten the taser or the FA might have accidentally tased a nearby passenger. Just no.

    • Brandon Reply
      March 10, 2023 at 11:25 am

      Ah yes, I’m sure they are going to not train them how to use a taser if they give them out….. That makes total sense. I guess we are going to stop training pilots too? What else will you think of?

      • Scooter Reply
        March 10, 2023 at 4:20 pm

        In a moment of panic, all training goes out the window, especially with a weapon. Fact of the matter is that flight attendants don’t need weapons of any sort.

  5. Derek Reply
    March 10, 2023 at 11:22 am

    Sara Nelson should be placed on the no fly list.

    She is a true danger to air passengers and air travel

  6. Jerry Reply
    March 10, 2023 at 11:38 am

    Ms. Nelson once again makes another great point. I think we can all agree that there simply aren’t enough weapons circulating around in US society. Start with tasers, and hopefully in a year or two we can get flight attendants semi-automatic rifles so we can all be safe. At the end of the day, they’re really just there for our safety.

    • Brandon Reply
      March 10, 2023 at 11:53 am

      Nice illogical leap. You might, maybe, possibly, could have made the slippery slope argument that this would lead to *hand guns* on planes. But you went to bogeyman “automatic rifles”. Thanks for proving you don’t have a clue.

      I guess this also means you are against flight marshals as well?

      • AJ Reply
        March 10, 2023 at 11:54 am

        Jerry trolls sometimes.

      • Jerry Reply
        March 10, 2023 at 12:37 pm

        Brandon, my comment was obviously intended to be sarcastic. I don’t think Sara Nelson makes good points very often, and I don’t think this proposal is a good idea.

        • Brandon Reply
          March 10, 2023 at 12:55 pm

          Fair enough. I didn’t catch the sarcasm. Carryon.

  7. Jan Reply
    March 10, 2023 at 12:11 pm

    Just a reminder that DL is doing more for their non-union FA’s than Sara Nelson’s thugs ever did for their rank and file FA members.

    • AJ Reply
      March 10, 2023 at 12:14 pm

      100%. What is the point of a union if non-union are doing better?

      • Brandon Reply
        March 10, 2023 at 12:16 pm

        Easy, steal money and give it to their preferred political candidates.

        • AJ Reply
          March 10, 2023 at 12:26 pm

          She’s building a better country..one taser at a time.. https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/sara-nelson-labor-secretary/

  8. John Dogas Reply
    March 10, 2023 at 12:46 pm

    Sara Nelson is unhinged and mentally unsound to be in her role given he ridiculous demand. Having something that can be fired 10 feet away and hit any passenger with a sudden jerk or bump of the plane is not wise. Flight attendants often don’t have good judgement. The routinely abuse their power and make threats against passengers for complaining about poor service. Flight attendants on the big U.S. airlines are not like flight attendants we respect in Europe, Asia, or the Middle East. Even JetBlue ones tend to be ok. The big airline ones are at best mediocre with an occasional gay guy who is extra pleasant.

  9. Exit Row Seat Reply
    March 10, 2023 at 1:41 pm

    What happens if the wrong PAX is tased in error. Is the FA held accountable??

    • Jan Reply
      March 10, 2023 at 2:20 pm

      Of course. If ACAB, AFAAB, and racist.

  10. Marc Reply
    March 10, 2023 at 2:25 pm

    I get your point Mathew and so far, in the end, no aircraft has been taken down without weapons of sort since 9/11. And passengers have stepped up as a ‘force multiple ‘ in some circumstances. And that’s a good thing. But the ‘what if’ part of my brain gives pause to these on board outbreaks of violence. If I help the crew, am I covered by something like the ‘good Samaritan laws’ that cover medical folks at an accident. What if, in the course of pitching in, I am injured severely or permanently, will the airlines cover me? Of course the dynamics change dramatically if we are in the air, because we are now all collectively at risk. Maybe the interim solution is the two key system for a missile launch…ie two crew members must agree a taser is necessary and they both have to jointly unlock the taser cabinet, make a very loud , -stop or we will tase you’ announcement so there is significant warning. Lastly, people, stop being asses when you travel…just stop. Even when confronted by a power mad FA, just stop. Start recording and wait. You will never ‘win’..even if you are right, the moment you lay a hand on an FA or another PaX.

  11. Jeffrey M Schwartz Reply
    March 10, 2023 at 3:12 pm

    There is another big factor, sometimes the taser points do not penerate the colthing that your target is wearing. Therefore, taser is totally ineffective. Also, then have been reports of people so distressed and riled up thatt the taser has no effect. Tasers onboard, no way.

  12. Aaron Reply
    March 12, 2023 at 11:09 am

    There is also the small minority of people with heart conditions where the use of a taser would exacerbate their condition, possibly causing them to go into cardiac arrest. Now a huge secondary problem was just created. Not to mention the emotional distress of the FA who used the taser.

  13. Jesda Gulati Reply
    March 17, 2023 at 5:37 am

    I’d rather arm security guards than school teachers and air marshals than FAs.

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