Spare a thought for airline flight attendants
In an article titled ‘The best airlines look to vaccinate all customer-facing staff to rebuild trust in travel', Aviation consultant and expert Shashank Nigam writes, “Imagine boarding a flight where everyone has tested negative for the virus before boarding, and any staff you deal with has been vaccinated. Wouldn’t that give you peace of mind about your trip? What if you had to fly elderly parents or grandparents for a holiday – wouldn’t you prefer to have them fly an airline where 100% of the customer-facing staff has been vaccinated?”
No question about it. Much has been said about keeping the spread of the dreaded coronavirus at bay when flying from one point to another and most of it concerns the well-being of the traveler. It’s about putting your customer first. However, with COVID-19, we believe that the health and safety of the people who serve or take care of traveler who fly, is no less important.
Flight attendants face huge risks from catching COVID-19 than anyone else on a plane, passengers included. Unlike a passenger who sits on board most of the time, a flight attendant, by the nature of his or her work comes within six feet of almost every passenger and fellow attendants multiple times during a flight. Every time passengers remove their masks to either eat or drink, they pose the threat of the attendant contracting the virus. Then there are the multiple dangers of not only catching the virus but of being abused when having to deal with anti-maskers who refuse to comply with the rules: thereby putting not just their health, but also their jobs at risk – every day.
Many flight attendants don’t understand how they can be allowed to work on planes with more than 50 people when nations are calling for ‘social distancing’ and to avoid large groups. More ironically, several countries require self-quarantine for travelers on arrival. Flight crews, however, are usually exempt.
Small wonder then that a recent World Economic Forum / Visual Capitalist report found that transportation workers have the highest COVID-19 risk score 75.7 out of an average 30.6 – of 966 non-health jobs assessed. Guess what? Flight attendants are more at risk from COVID-19 than anyone else.
In addition to all this is that constantly lurking fear of losing their jobs – the longer the planes stay grounded the greater the likelihood of more flying staff being sent home. As one flight attendant put it “It’s like participating in a reality TV show where you are waiting to be eliminated”. Another confessed that “Not only is it hard for me to go to work on board, but it is worrying for my family and it’s a tough time for all – we need every dollar that I earn from my job, but at the same time my family wants me to stay at home and be safe”.
Spare a thought then for these brave employees who provide service to fliers on essential flights. They too face daunting challenges each time they fly and have to overcome their personal and psychological fears of COVID-19.
Let’s salute these flight attendants for simply turning up for work.
Hospitality Sri Lanka
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