Starting next month, flight attendants and other customer-facing employees at United Airlines will only be able to wear a US flag pin: all other country flag pins will be banned. The move comes after several controversial incidents concerning Palestinian flag pins over the last year.
US Flag Pins Will Be Only Country Flag Pins Allowed In Uniform At United Airlines
Last August, a Jewish organization took offense to a United flight attendant wearing a Palestinian flag pin and shamed her on social media:
(We saw similar incidents on JetBlue and Delta Air Lines.)
But while JetBlue and Delta banned flag pins, United defended the right of its flight attendants to wear such pins, saying:
“Our uniform policy has long included an option for flight attendants to wear flag pins to designate specific language skills so that our customers who are more comfortable in a language other than English can know who on our crew speaks their preferred language. We also allow flight attendants to wear flag pins that represent their pride in a place to which they may have a special connection.”
It was that last sentence that proved so controversial…Does United allow Taiwan flag pins on flights to Mainland China? Or the Estelada flag (flown by Catalan independence supporters) on flights to Madrid? Or Russia pins?
> Read More: Flight Attendant Sparks Outrage Over Palestinian Flag Pin, But United Airlines Supports Her
Today, a flight attendant forwarded me United’s current approved pins page (there’s a list of 18 approved pins) with a note under country flag pins:
Note: starting May 28, only US flag pins will be allowed
Although I’ve seen no formal memo or other communication about this change, it represents a remarkable policy change for United. It also coincides with the launch of United’s new flight attendant uniforms.
This Policy Is Sad But Logical
As I’ve argued before, it makes sense to ban such controversial pins while in uniform, even if it reflects an unfortunate reality of incivility; a time in which we cannot tolerate opposing views on highly controversial issues. The pins can become a distraction and undermine the primary mission of an airline to provide safe, reliable, and quality air transport. The ban is therefore appropriate because of the passions that an Israeli or, particularly, a Palestinian flag pin inflames. Russian versus Ukrainian flag pins may evoke the same reaction.
I do love it when flight attendants wear flag pins to designate what language(s) they speak. I also loved it when Emirates once had flag pins to show where its diverse crews came from and what languages they spoke…
I was quite surprised that United took a much different approach to this issue than Delta or JetBlue. Part of me still wishes we could wear our respective pins and respectfully debate. But that’s not the country or nation we live in and United should not subject passengers to such incivility when flags can stand for hate and terror.
Better to look uniform in uniform…
Finally, I hate being so cynical, but I wonder if this is part of CEO Scott Kirby’s push to ingratiate United with the Trump Administration as it works on a partnership with JetBlue?
CONCLUSION
While United has not explained the logic behind its upcoming ban on country flag pins, with an exception for the US flag, it just makes sense in this very divided world in which flags can be interpreted (and misinterpreted) as signs of hate.
What do you think about United’s updated flag pin policy?
In my opinion, they should do what carriers like BA (I think they still do this) do, and just designate flags to show what languages they speak, it could be easier so passengers who don’t necessarily speak English can easily notice who speaks what language.
Otherwise do what Emirates does, and on PAs announce what languages are spoken onboard
except flags aren’t a direct correlation to language.
and DL also makes announcements of what languages are spoken
DL also banned all flags except US flags a long time ago because they didn’t want to deal w/ the negative press of a handful of employees that are antagonistic to passengers.
As with most things, UA follows DL – and in this case also B6
Years ago, I think it was UA, that had the country-language flag incorporated into the namebadge for FAs. This makes sense since it’s not “flair” or whatever nonsense you want to call the silly need to have ANY flag on your uniform. It was uniform (something the US3 absolutely struggle with when it comes to the costumes they make/allow FAs to wear), it was clearly company-sanctioned as it was part of the issued namebadge, and it was user-friendly in that it was fairly obvious that the person wearing spoke the language, more so in Asian countries then European ones, albeit. That should be the norm. No flag pins, full stop, aside from languages spoken. A flag or flag pin doesn’t make someone patriotic. And airplanes aren’t a place well suited to highlighting your political beliefs.
if you want to denote that someone speaks another language, you just need to put that language on the uniform
francais, espanol, korean etc.
and it isn’t like most FAs or passenger service personnel can’t figure out pretty quickly that someone doesn’t speak their language and ask a colleague that might speak the passenger’s language to assist.
Not untrue but writing out all the languages takes up space. If you speak more than two languages, like most non-Americans, you end up having a potentially large namebadge. Small flags on the namebadge take up less space. For instance, if you added a second area under the name – the same height/width as the name area itself, you could add 3 or 4 flags in the same space of one language name. Lots of people speak, say, Spanish and Italian and French given their romance background. That would only require one additional area under the name instead of two or three. As for which flag, you use the flag of the country of origin for that language. So Spain for Spanish instead of Argentina or Mexico. Ultimately it’s a cost savings for the airline as there are fewer materials.
@Emil +1
Are flight attendants allowed to wear turbans/hijabs/kippas?
Yes . And they are also allowed to wear ‘artificial nipple pointed’ bras under their white blouses .
A uniform is a uniform, not a billboard, not a cause, and not the visible statement of politics or ideology. Airlines always (correctly) remind passengers that flight attendants are there primarily for the safety of the souls on board. I don’t believe it is appropriate or helpful to allow the uniforms of flight attendants to end up resembling Jennifer Anniston in ‘Office Space’ with 10 pieces of “flare” on a uniform. Whether it’s a MAGA hat, a “FJB” pin, a pride flag, or a watermelon pin (to symbolize a Palestinian flag–none of those things concern the duties of a flight attendant. It also increases the likelihood of either an on board confrontation.
@Chris, as I’ve said for years, but apparently Cairns can’t read.
The Palestinian flag should be allowed if the FA speaks the dialect spoken in Gaza.
For Chinese speakers, the Singapore flag should be used if the FA objects to the Republic of China flag or is flying to Taiwan and doesn’t want to wear the Republic of China flag.
1 – Why should it be a Palestinian flag and not a Saudi Flag? Or a UAE Flag?
2 – What is the Chinese language? Mandarin? What about Cantonese speakers? Wu Shanghainese?
3 – Why does it have to be a graphic of a flag instead of just words?
…because they don’t speak Palestinian Arabic in Saudi Arabia.
For Cantonese, wear the Hong Kong flag. For Shanghainese, that language is mostly suppressed but they could have some characters under a flag.
Then why not wear an Egyptian or Lebanese flag, since those dialects have a high degree of mutual intelligibility, rather than a flag that’s become a symbol for politico-religious extremism, if not outright terrorism? And it’s not like it’s a new association, either – the PLO adopted the flag in 1964, and started a campaign of international terrorism in 1965.
If Kirby is now taking a position to ingratiate United to this administration, he should consider how it has not worked for others hoping to curry favor. In the end you will look like the court fool dancing to please.
Uniforms should be treated as the standard without variation. It was a poor choice to not take this position earlier.
It’s the wise thing to do.
Kirby sees our culture changing and it’s going away from woke.
Our culture is only changing because our government is now punishing people for saying things they don’t like
Good.
If you think that’s good, you’re no better than the leftist lunatics who cancelled anyone who said that men cannot become women, or vice-versa, just by saying so.
So then you would be ok if democrats force you to march in gay prode parades when they get back in charge. Good
I agree it is sad but perhaps necessary. I would have hoped that flags indicating the persons language skills would be permitted but as you so well pointed out..that too can cause controversy.
Jeez Matthew I think you’d blame most anything on Trump.
This is a wise policy that other airlines have followed for decades and I highly doubt it had nothing to do with the President.
But then again you’ve made this the most politicized and polarized airline blog out there. So get your digs in…..
You poor soul suffering from TDS…(Trump Deify Syndrome). There was no attack against Dear Leader in this post. I suppose you also consider Amazon breaking out the tariff surcharge a political attack against the POTUS? You’re insufferable…and don’t even read what I write.
Aww, Cairns needs a safe space for a hug. Funny how MAGA reveals how much they are the pouty insecure ones. Failure is hard, Cairns. You will get through it. Hugs, sweet girl.
BTW Chris nailed it. I wish others were as smart.
Smart move. Now get rid of the pronoun shit too.
Yes the. “Gender Ideology ” should have been canned at the same time. The administration does not approve.
Neither does most of society and the world.
Andy S. … Yep , and neither do normal people , who don’t want to miss out on the normal fun .
I’d be more vocal about my lousy Union taking 5 yrs to get a Contract.. I mean still no Contract. Some employee’s priorities are skewed.
“Finally, I hate being so cynical, but I wonder if this is part of CEO Scott Kirby’s push to ingratiate United with the Trump Administration…”
You know exactly what you’re doing. At least own up to it and stop lying. You’re so biased it’s scary. Most people don’t want to see politics on an airline. Or an airline blog.
Stop lieing. If United made MAGA hats part of the official uniform you would be jumping for joy
Bias?
How is that anti-Trump?
Or even anti-Kirby?
It’s not. It’s business. Business and politics are intertwined. If you think a travel blog should be about cupcakes and rainbows, you have not been reading closely for 15 years…
You’re so blinded by your partisanship you cannot even appreciate analysis over motives, which is a far different thing than calling out the dotard for tanking the economy.
These are guys that tell fox news to fire their pollster because they don’t like the result of the poll, instead of maybe adjusting their policies. Anything that’s not North Korea level bootlicking, is deemed a threat by these people
Did I misquote you Matthew?? Just curious if you read what you wrote.
I did remember reading a few days ago that you were talking about how to buy a Porsche in Germany, drive it, and if used ship it then to the U.S. to avoid tariffs. I love how MAGA wants to afflict pain on the rest of the country in the name of MAGA so the wealthy can find loopholes to avoid the nightmare the rest of us are enduring.
Hey, Cairns? F$ck You. We are coming for you.
Erasure in the service of genocide, and diminishing the global brand — a sad day indeed.
They really will complain about anything and everything, won’t they.
UAL has new uniforms coming out this month. Perfect time to institute a new uniform policy. But Matthew thinks Trump is following UAL’s badge policy. Jezz-uz.
Antwerp if you want to go for the gutter that’s fine with me. I know what you are.
I disagree with UA on this one. I work for a large corporation, and to a certain degree, we can express support for causes we care about in our email signatures, and for people in an office, pins on their lanyards. The mere statement that one supports the people of Palestine, as I do, shouldn’t be triggering. FA’s shouldn’t taunt others, and passengers shouldn’t get aggressive with FAs.
I’m not happy with Israel at the moment, but when I see an El Al aircraft parked at JFK, I don’t start shouting at people. The issue is people’s behavior, not the existence of flag pins. I think it’s a shame, especially for people from places like Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and Guam who are all American, and may just want to show pride in where they’re from.
I guess I should ask- Matthew are you OK with “Fu$k you. We’re coming for you.” Is this what you want your blog to be?
You’ve been silent since that remark yet you’ve called out many others for this (including me- rightfully).
if you use profanity here for left wing viewpoints is that OK?
No, I’m not okay with it.
I want civil discourse here and I hope Antwerp understands it.
Thank you. And thank you for responding.
I recently flew both AirLink and South African on both domestic and longish-haul (JNB-MRU-JNB). As part of the welcome announcement, the lead FA stated the languages spoken by the crew (English, Afrikaans, isiZulu, Shona, whatever). It was quick, effective and told all aboard what languages were available (I did see a pax ask for help from a French-speaking FA). Insofar as United, announcements are made in the languages appropriate to the flight (e.g., Singapore: English and Mandarin; Brussels: English, Dutch and French, so again its pretty clear someone aboard can assist a passenger. I’ve helped translate in Spanish on a domestic flight from El Paso to Houston when no FA could speak Spanish, an announcement was made and I volunteered; my reward was a nice smile and a cocktail.