The crew who were assaulted by a passenger: what the law says in the air, the airline's duty, the police at the gate and why so few cases are reported
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#1 easyJet Bristol, cabin manager, and the passenger complaint thread and the disciplinary thread exist, but the reverse case does not: the crew member who is the victim. It happens more than the forum shows, the reporting rate is low, and the crew who go through it do not know the process. Here it is, from a cabin manager who has filed three.
What counts
A passenger who hits, grabs, pushes, spits at, sexually touches or threatens a crew member. Not the rude passenger, not the shouting one. The physical one and the one whose threat is credible. The law in most jurisdictions treats an assault on crew in the air as a serious offence and several countries (the UK, the US, Australia, the Gulf states) have specific aviation offences with aviation penalties.
In the air
The crew member reports to the cabin manager immediately. The cabin manager informs the captain. The passenger is managed (moved, restrained if the procedure and the situation require it, with the restraint kit and the trained crew), the other passengers are managed, the paperwork starts in flight. The captain decides whether to divert and whether to request the police at the gate. The airline's procedures cover all of this and the crew who know them are the ones who are not improvising at 38,000 feet.
The police at the gate
Requested by the captain through the company, met at the gate by the police of the arrival country, the passenger removed, the crew member's statement taken. The crew member is asked whether they wish to press charges and the airline's policy at most carriers supports the crew member doing so. The witness statements from the other crew and the passengers are taken on the aircraft. The crew member is offered the EAP and the peer support, which Paul's mental health thread describes.
The airline's duty
To support the crew member through the police process, to provide the legal support if it goes to court, to ban the passenger, to give the crew member time off if needed without it counting against the record, and to not pressure the crew member to drop it. The agreements at the unionised carriers spell this out. The crew member's duty is to report it, in flight, in writing, every time.
Why so few are reported
Because the crew member is embarrassed. Because the process is long. Because the crew member thinks it was not serious enough. Because the crew member does not want to be the one who caused the diversion. Because the culture of the cabin is that crew absorb. And because the paperwork at hour eleven is the last thing anyone wants. Every one of these is understandable and every one of them lets the passenger do it again on the next flight.
What I tell my crew
Report it. In flight, to me, immediately. I will handle the captain and the police and the paperwork and you will give a statement and go home. The airline will support you and if it does not, the union will, and if there is no union, this forum will tell you what to say. The passenger who assaults a crew member and walks away does it again. The one who meets the police at the gate does not.
For the crew who have been through it
Post if you want to, without the detail. The crew who have not need to know it is reported and supported and that they are not the first.
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#2 easyJet Manchester, union rep, and the airline's duty paragraph is the agreement in practice and the union's job is to make sure it is honoured. The crew who report are supported. The crew who absorb are the ones I meet two years later on the fatigue threads. Report it.
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#3 Qatar purser, and the Gulf aviation offences are severe and the police at the gate in Doha are serious. The crew who report in the Gulf get the passenger banned and the record supports them. The embarrassment is the barrier here too. Claire has it.
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#4 American, and the US federal offence for interfering with crew carries years and the airlines report it to the FAA. The crew who report at the US carriers are backed by the union and the law. The ones who do not are the ones the passenger meets again.
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#5 Emirates purser, and I have filed two and the airline supported both to the police and the ban. The crew member in one case was a 22 year old on her third month and she did not want to be the reason for the diversion. She was not the reason. The passenger was. I told her that and I tell every crew.
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#6 SAS, and the Scandinavian agreements give the crew member time off and legal support as a right and the police at Copenhagen are routine. The reporting rate is still low. The culture of absorbing is the barrier everywhere. Claire's thread is the one that should change it.
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#7 Ryanair Stansted number one, and I have filed one and the crew member thanked me a year later when the court date came and the passenger was convicted. Report it. The number one handles the paperwork. That is what the grade is for.
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#8 Virgin, peer supporter, and the crew who come to us after an assault are the ones who reported and are shaken, and the ones who did not report and are angry at themselves. The first group recover. Report it, as Claire says, and then come to us.