Part of the Series
Struggle and Solidarity: Writing Toward Palestinian Liberation
We’ve all seen them: Videos of passengers behaving badly at airline check-in desks and on airplanes have become a social media staple. While other customers are often the focus of their fellow passengers’ outbursts, hastily snapped photos, and shaky phone footage, there’s another group of people who also tend to bear the brunt of the harassment: flight attendants.
On July 10, several X users kicked off a social media firestorm when they posted photos of two Delta Airlines flight attendants who were wearing small Palestinian flags on their uniform lapels. A groundswell of online bigots stoked outrage by mischaracterizing the items as “Hamas pins.”
Unfortunately, the situation only escalated from there. The official Delta account on X replied to a post from user @iliketeslas, writing, “I hear you as I’d be terrified as well, personally. Our employees reflect our culture and we do not take it lightly when our policy is not being followed.” As the photos went viral, false rumors spread that the pin-wearing workers had been terminated. But under Delta Airlines’ then-current uniform policy, the workers were totally within their rights to do so; the policy allowed workers to don pins representing all countries and nationalities of the world.
“For decades, it has been common practice for crew members to wear pins reflecting their heritage,” Sara Nelson, a veteran flight attendant and president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA), a union representing over 50,000 flight attendants at 19 different airlines, told Truthout. “The strength of diversity at network airlines is celebrated as a reflection of the places and people we connect around the world.”
The Delta post was quickly taken down and the company released a statement apologizing: “On July 10, Delta removed a mistakenly posted comment on X because it was not in line with our values and our mission to connect the world. The team member responsible for the post has been counseled and no longer supports Delta’s social channels. We apologize for this error,” it read.
In the same statement, Delta announced that it would be changing its uniform policy, effective July 11. “As of that day, only U.S. flags will be permitted to be worn on uniforms. Previously, pins representing countries/nationalities of the world had been permitted. We are taking this step to help ensure a safe, comfortable and welcoming environment for all. We are proud of our diverse base of employees and customers and the foundation of our brand, which is to connect the world and provide a premium experience,” the company stated.
“This change not only violates Delta’s commitment to inclusivity, but also creates a chilling effect on any worker or passenger deemed ‘not American enough’ by a hateful few.”
In May, JetBlue responded to a similar incident — in which a customer complained about seeing a flight attendant wearing a Palestine pin and a Black Lives Matter pin — by changing its own uniform policy. The airline nixed political pins altogether, banning its flight attendants from wearing any pins besides those “from a state, country or territory served by JetBlue; if it’s a pin representing first responders; or a pin from the union.”
While some online bigots might have been satisfied by Delta’s response, their own flight attendants sure aren’t.
Delta is not currently unionized, but the AFA-CWA has been working to change that since 2021, when the union announced its intention to organize the carrier’s 28,000 flight attendants. The DeltaAFA campaign itself began even earlier, in 2019, when flight attendants began organizing around wages and workplace safety. In-flight harassment is a major occupational hazard for flight attendants, and highly charged public dramas like the pin affair only increase the potential for tension on board.
Pins may seem like small potatoes to some, but consider this: today the controversy is over a Palestine flag; tomorrow, it could be a Pride flag, a pronoun pin, or a Black Lives Matter pin. Allowing passengers to bully airlines into altering policies to fit their own specific political prejudices sets a dangerous precedent, and flight attendants are the ones who will be left to deal with the fallout head-on.
Delta’s immediate move to pacify its online critics was greeted with sharp criticism from the workers themselves. “They sent a strong message about how they view the diversity of our work group as well as our passengers on the airplane,” Kara Dupuis, a Delta AFA Organizing Committee Member and flight attendant, told FOX 5. “You don’t leave your humanity at home whenever you come to work.”
In response, the DeltaAFA campaign has launched a petition calling on their employer to heighten its commitment to their safety by reversing the uniform policy shift.
“Our pins are not the problem. Harassment, and Delta’s failure to stop it, are the problems.”
“This change not only violates Delta’s commitment to inclusivity, but also creates a chilling effect on any worker or passenger deemed ‘not American enough’ by a hateful few,” it reads. “This sets a dangerous precedent that is both dehumanizing and harmful to Delta’s reputation and ability to do business both here and around the world. Where does this end?”
In addition, DeltaAFA is asking Delta to ban nonconsensual photography of crew members while on duty or in uniform, and issue a public apology to the two crew members who were attacked for their Palestine pins. “Delta must stop shifting the blame onto Flight Attendants who wear flag pins,” they stated. “Our pins are not the problem. Harassment, and Delta’s failure to stop it, are the problems.”
According to a 2022 U.S. Government Accountability Office study, 61 percent of airline customer service agents reported experiencing at least one passenger assault within the past year, while 96 percent reported verbal harassment. Altercations became particularly intense at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, when the Federal Aviation Administration reported a staggering 5,973 unruly passenger incidents; 2024’s current count is 895, which is a significant improvement but still extremely high. A 2018 survey from the AFA-CWA found that 68 percent of the flight attendants surveyed had experienced sexual harassment during their flying careers.
“Delta management is betraying its own purported values and setting the stage for increased passenger harassment and discrimination,” Nelson said. “This is not just about a pin or a picture — it’s about making sure flight attendants are safe and defending our dignity.”
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