Why Did Delta Trap Its Flight Attendants on a Plane?
Jennifer Billock June 03, 2019
Delta is facing accusations of trying to trap flight attendants on a plane during maintenance on a delayed flight—though the flight attendants were willing to stay and work the extended hours anyway, they were still frustrated at the airline’s attempt to keep them on the plane without their permission.
On a recent Delta flight out of Atlanta, there was a long delay due to a maintenance issue that pushed back takeoff. Flight attendants were already on the plane, but Delta was preparing for the worst—so someone in the operations control center instructed the gate agent to keep the doors on the plane closed.
“Do not open door,” the message read, reported by HuffPost. “flt [sic] attendants out of time and none available. Let [maintenance] do their work without opening door thanks.”
The person was apparently afraid the flight attendants would get fed up with the delay, meet their time requirements, and then bail on the flight. But even if they hadn’t been forced to stay on the plane, they would have anyway.
“Since we are deciding to stay although y’all are trying to trap us on the plane, and now our layover has been shortened and we will be past our duty day, hungry and tired,” one flight attendant responded, reported by HuffPost. “It would be nice to have a deadhead at some point tomorrow.”
Delta acknowledged the incident.
“Operating an airline is a team effort and the guidance shared in this exchange does not reflect the respect and collaboration we expect of our employees when making operational decisions,” Delta said in a statement to HuffPost. “Delta’s unique culture is built on supporting one another and that didn’t happen in this case. We have followed up directly with the team members involved to address this situation.”
[Featured Image: Shutterstock]
