United Airlines is asking employees not to duct-tape difficult passengers to their seats, according to a memo sent to staff.
The memo sent out to employees on Friday was from John Slater, the senior vice president of United. Slater noted that a number of other airlines had been making news on the way they have handled disagreements during flights and appreciated employees for sticking to traditional procedures in de-escalating conflicts with passengers.
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“When things have evolved, you’ve relied on all aspects of inflight safety training, including de-escalation,” Slater wrote in his memo, a copy of which was reviewed by the Washington Examiner. “This professionalism and composure have set us apart from some of our competitors.”
Slater also reminded United employees of designated items that are always on board for use in difficult situations and that alternative measures such as tape should never be used.
In recent months, the airline industry has experienced several incidents of unruly passengers on flights, and some employees’ decisions to duct-tape some of the customers to their seats have attracted scrutiny, including a man getting duct-taped to his seat on Frontier Airlines earlier this month. Last week also saw a 13-year-old boy getting duct-taped to his chair after trying to kick out a window on American Airlines, according to KCAL.
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There has been an uptick in unruly passengers on airlines throughout 2021. The Federal Aviation Administration stated that nearly 4,000 unruly passenger reports have been filed this year as of Monday, with almost 3,000 of the incidents stemming from clashes regarding masks.
