Anti Masker hell for flight attendants

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DeeDee dreamed of being a flight attendant when she was a little girl and has been in the high-flying profession for nearly two decades. But now the 58-year-old says she sometimes struggles to get out of bed and go to work.

“I’m afraid of the viciousness I’ll face from the passengers,” said the widow and mom of two, who declined to share her full name or current employer for privacy purposes.

Outrage over COVID-19 safety guidelines and a recent increase in flight delays and cancellations, mixed with alcohol intake, are fueling a surge in passenger brutality against flight crews. A recent Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) survey of 5,000 members found that 85 percent of flight attendants have been confronted by rowdy airline travelers this year, 58 percent have experienced at least five incidents of disorderly conduct and a whopping 17 percent have even been physically attacked.

The FAA has received a staggering 4,498 reports of unruly passengers attacking in-flight support staffers since the dawn of 2021. More than 800 brutality investigations have been initiated this year — double the amount launched in 2019 and 2020 combined.

Over 3,200 of the injurious incidents were in direct relation to the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) federal mask mandate.

No one wants to wear their masks, and when I ask them to, they call me names like ‘b***h’ and ‘dumb a – -,’ ” said Kelly, a 25-year-old commercial flight attendant of seven years.

“I was used to having to deal with an uncooperative passenger every once in a while, but now everyone is just so rude and hostile,” said Kelly, who declined to give her full name because of her company’s media policy. “The other day a guy ripped off his mask and burped right in my face.”

While things were never this bad before, Kelly did experience occasional turbulence with inappropriate passengers long before the global pandemic.

“A lot of attendants are sexual assaulted,” said Kelly, who ultimately hopes to become a pilot. More recently, she has received messages from passengers who memorize her name in order to find her on Facebook and ask to buy her used pantyhose.