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Spirit Flight Attendants to Management: We Are Safety Professionals, Not Billboards

Posted on: Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 13:02 CST

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Spirit Airlines management has launched a series of degrading and demeaning advertisements and Spirit flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA), have had enough.

"I feel as though I have entered a time warp and am reliving the battles for respect and justice for women that we fought for 40 years ago," said Patricia Friend, AFA-CWA International President. "Several promotional fare ads, with their not very subtle innuendoes, are demeaning not to just the hardworking flight attendants at Spirit Airlines but to all of America's professional flight attendants. They offend not just the female population of this country but the male members of humanity who admire and respect women."

Recently, management introduced a proposal which would force Spirit flight attendants to wear inflight aprons adorned with an alcoholic beverage logo.

"Turning flight attendants into walking billboards is unacceptable," said Deborah Crowley, AFA-CWA Spirit President. "The proposed aprons diminish the primary and federally mandated role of flight attendants as safety professionals and our role as first responders onboard."

Flight attendants have a statutory obligation to enforce Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations regarding intoxicated passengers. Inflight aprons that prominently display a logo from an alcoholic beverage company send the wrong signal to passengers and diminish the ability of flight attendants to enforce vital safety and security regulations and procedures onboard. AFA-CWA has formally requested that Spirit management withdraw the demeaning advertising campaigns and replace them with professional and respectful messaging.

For over 60 years, the Association of Flight Attendants has been serving as the voice for flight attendants in the workplace, in the aviation industry, in the media and on Capitol Hill. More than 55,000 flight attendants at 20 airlines come together to form AFA-CWA, the world's largest flight attendant union. AFA is part of the 700,000-member strong Communications Workers of America (CWA), AFL-CIO. Visit us at www.afanet.org.

SOURCE Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO

Source: PR Newswire

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