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Last week, I wrote about passengers sharing photos of a Delta flight attendant sporting a Palestine flag pin, which is a violation of their policy. Many people weighed in on X and this incident was covered by many travel blogs and news outlets. Delta found itself in the middle of a situation where it would not win. On one hand, customers were clearly offended but it also had to balance not offending the significant Muslim population who live near its Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) hub. The airline initially chose to remain silent and then made a policy change.
This changed when one of the agents working its social media accounts posted the message above.
On Wednesday, we removed a reply that was not in line with our values. We strive for an environment of inclusivity & respect for all, in our communities & our planes. The employee responsible no longer supports Delta’s social channels. We apologize for this hurtful post.
— Delta (@Delta) July 11, 2024
This was later deleted and Delta issued the above tweet. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the country’s largest Muslim advocacy organization, slammed the airline for the “racist anti-Palestinian tweet” and demanded an apology which it got above.
On the DL lapel pin issue. 1) the customer service agent who posted the Delta response is no longer with the company. 2) DL will have an release an updated uniform policy to cover issues like that moving forward
— 🇺🇦 JonNYC 🇺🇦 (@xJonNYC) July 11, 2024
Aviation watchdog, @JonNYC shared that the employee who wrote the message was terminated. Delta vaguely stated they “no longer support Delta’s social channels.” I’m not sure if that means reassignment or fired.
The airline’s policy states that employees may “wear up to two pins that have been approved or issued by Delta.” This pin was neither. The flight attendants shown above were not disciplined for violating policy, but Delta said it was “in touch with the flight attendants to offer support.” It also made a tweak to its policy to only allow American flag pins after July 15th.
The Delta AFA Steering Committee sent the following open letter to our leadership team, demanding decisive and public action in support of Delta Flight Attendants.
1/2 pic.twitter.com/ezYuNRybIj— DeltaAFA (@DeltaAFA) July 11, 2024
The Delta organizing chapter of the union AFA-CWA got involved (because it’s trying to get Delta flight attendants to unionize) and looking for ways to gain flight attendant support. It’s getting involved to further stir the pot and hopes that this could be something additional to sway flight attendants to want to unionize. It chose to focus on the flight attendant being photographed, which also happens at unionized airlines and demanded an apology for the flight attendants that had been wearing the pins.
Anthony’s Take: Delta has no clear way to come out ahead in this situation and people will be offended no matter what the airline does here. The American flag pin change to policy is a start, but keeping its uniforms consistent without personalization is the only way that the airline will stay neutral.
(Image Credits: @StopAntisemites and @iliketeslas via X, Delta Air Lines.)
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3 comments
I doubt CAIR or the Union would be so excited to support these Delta FA’s if they had been wearing an Israeli flag pin or a Trump for President pin.
As far as Delta’s apology, it might as well been written by a “Virtual Signal” AI bot. So dumb. They just need to ban all pins besides Delta branding and hold a zero-tolerance stance. Do it you get fired immediately regardless of the staff member.
I remember when the Palestinian Liberation Organization actually hijacked planes…not convinced they wouldn’t do it again.
The original tweet complaining of “Hamas badges” is totally off-base. The pin is of the Palestinian flag. Hamas has its own (different) flag.