JetBlue Gets Stricter Around Flight Attendant Dress Code After Incident With Palestine Pin

Last week, I wrote about a JetBlue passenger who was an elite member for 10 years getting the cops called on him and his return flight cancelled after he politely objected to a flight attendant’s Palestinian flag pin. He was mistreated by the airline and the negative press is certainly not something JetBlue needs at the moment. Now, the airline has issued an update to its staff dress code.

JetBlue airlines hit with 'anti-Semitism' accusations after calling the police on Jewish passenger and accusing him of causing a 'disturbance' after he complained about flight attendant's Palestine lapel pin https://t.co/WChIvCPEqn pic.twitter.com/N63DRxBmKh

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) April 30, 2024

Paul Faust, 54, told The Daily Mail that he was flying to Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) last week. He noticed a female flight attendant with multiple pins on her uniform including one for Black Lives Matter and another of the Palestinian flag. She put an apron on before service. It covered all of the other pins except for the flag pin.

He approached the lead flight attendant calmly and explained his stance. He was told that the other flight attendant would be spoken to about the pin. Upon landing, Faust was approached by a gate agent wearing a yellow vest. She asked for his ID, he refused, and she then informed him that she was calling the police. She did, Faust left the airport, and found his return flight cancelled the next day.

He called customer service to find out what happened and was informed that he caused a disturbance, and “said everyone should go to Gaza so they can be killed” to the flight attendant. Faust claims that none of this is true and that he was conversing with a woman sitting next to him who was Israeli-American. He further said he did not even address the flight attendant.

Faust has held status with TrueBlue for the past 10 years. He’s now banned from flying JetBlue even though he claims the passenger next to him confirmed his side of the events. There are two sides to every story and unfortunately without being there or having video it’s impossible to know exactly how this went down. Flight attendants have the power while in flight and it appears that this crew is using that to their advantage while the passenger is left to suffer.

JetBlue must have seen some truth in his account as it has now apologized and issued an update to its dress code per Col Live. Here is the full statement:

As New York’s Hometown Airline, we are proud of our long history welcoming customers of different backgrounds and faiths from around the world. JetBlue does not tolerate discriminatory conduct, and we are committed to providing a respectful and welcoming environment for all our customers and crewmembers. We are taking this matter very seriously and conducting a full investigation into our crewmembers’ actions. We will take appropriate action once our investigation is complete as a result of non-compliance with any JetBlue policies.

At JetBlue, our #1 value is safety, and it guides every decision JetBlue makes. Our crewmembers should be focused on the safety of our flights and delivering a great customer experience. We have changed our uniform policy to make clear that on board the aircraft is not the right place for crewmembers to advocate positions on certain issues or political topics. Going forward crewmembers will only be permitted to wear pins approved or issued by JetBlue.

We had previously identified that our pin policy, which had dated back many years and allowed crewmembers to wear one unoffensive personal pin of their choice, needed to be updated to reflect the current environment. In light of this incident, we urgently expedited this change.

We have reached out to listen to Mr. Faust and offer our apologies for the breakdown in our policies during his flight. We hope with these actions we can welcome him back onto a JetBlue flight in the future.”

Anthony’s Take: As I said in my original post, there is no easy solution here. From the horrifying events at a music festival to the continued military situation in Gaza, people hold strong opinions. Free speech is a tenet of our democracy and one that must be preserved, but hate speech is not and depending on the truth in this situation and others, it’s possible to see how this veered into the latter. I’m glad that JetBlue is taking action and feel that it’s a start for the way it treated Mr. Faust.

(Featured Image Credit: Rachelle Almagor via The Daily Mail.)