United Airlines issued a reminder to employees not to tape passengers to their seats

United Airlines issued a reminder to employees not to tape passengers to their seats

It would seem that there is nothing to talk about here, but, after a series of unpleasant incidents, United Airlines decided to remind their employees not to stick passengers to their seats using duct tape.

For the staff working in the airline, there was issued a memo reminding them not to tether passengers — no matter how out of control they become — amid other airlines being criticized for their controversial way of pacifying travelers.

Over the past couple of months, at least two similar incidents have gone viral on social media since then. Video footage showed passengers tied to their seats with duct tape, and in one case, the person's mouth was sealed.

While United Airlines was not involved in any of the cases, they apparently saw fit to play it safe, recalling that employees have legal procedures in place to de-escalate conflict in the air.

“Please remember that there are special items on board that can be used in difficult situations and alternative measures such as duct tape should never be resorted to,” reads a memo sent last week by United’s senior vice president of flight services. John Slater.

According to NBC, there has been an alarming increase in the number of incidents on board aircraft over the past year, with flight companies attributing the increase to confrontation over COVID-19 policy.

Formerly This week, the Federal Aviation Administration revealed the extent of the problem by releasing new data showing that more than 2,500 official passenger misbehavior reports have been filed this year alone.

Allegedly, none of the duct tape incidents has been linked to controversy over wearing a mask. In one case, a passenger aboard a Frontier Airlines flight harassed two female flight attendants and assaulted a third, and in another, a woman aboard an American Airlines flight tried to open an emergency exit mid-flight.

Source