New fear unlocked: Flight attendants have shared how scared they are of being hit with hefty fines by undercover inspectors from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for breaking aviation safety rules–fines that can easily reach thousands of dollars and which the flight attendant is personally responsible for paying.
A Costly Act of Kindness
Imagine the scenario – a flight attendant is slowly making their way along the aisle, completing their compliance checks to make sure everyone has their seatbelts fastened and tray tables latched as the plane is taxiing towards the runway for takeoff.
As they finish checking a row of passengers, they make eye contact with a sweet old lady who is struggling to use the inflight entertainment system. The lady asks for a pair of earphones as she doesn’t own a pair herself.
The flight attendant fishes inside their pocket and pulls out a pair of packaged earphones they had on them for just this kind of scenario. They hand over the earphones with a smile and carry on with their business.
Once the plane is safely in the air, the flight attendant is approached by another passenger, but rather than applauding the crew member for their kind act, they flash their FAA badge and write out a ticket for a violation of federal laws.
The flight attendant is hit with a fine of $7,500 that they are personally responsible for paying.
The rule that got the flight attendant in so much trouble
We all know the aviation industry is governed by strict rules, and in the United States, the rule book that flight attendants must follow word for word is known as the Federal Aviation Regulations – often simply referred to as FARS.
From time to time, the FAA sends its inspector to make sure that airlines and employees are complying with these FARS and even minor transgressions are not tolerated.
In this case, the flight attendant was accused of breaching Section 121.391 of the FARS, which is all about ensuring that flight attendants are properly distributed in the cabin for takeoff and landing to ensure they can evacuate everyone within the critical 90-second window.
What has this got to do with handing out earphones, you might ask?! This particular FAR states that during ‘surface movement’ (i.e. taxiing to the runway), flight attendants must be seated in their assigned jumpseat with their harness securely fastened unless they are performing a safety-related task.
Completing a mandatory compliance check prior to takeoff is an accepted safety-related task, but as soon as the flight attendant reached into her pocket and handed over a pair of earphones, she performed a service task.
The FAA’s Heavy Hand – Fines and Enforcement
The FAA has the power to fine individuals (such as pilots, flight attendants, or engineers) up to $100,000 per violation of the FARS, although the agency says that fines for individuals generally range from $1,100 to $75,000.
In fact, the FAA even has its own civil litigation department, but most of its inspections are closed, with only informal action being taken.
That being said, it only takes one or two enforcement actions for news to quickly spread and compliance with the FARS is quickly gained. That’s particularly true for a close-knit group of workers like flight attendants, where stories of heavy fines for violation of the FARS spread like wildfire.
Other rules that could get flight attendants in big trouble
As you can imagine, there are a lot of and while flight attendants are pretty well acquainted with most of them pertaining to their jobs, even a minor slip up could land a crew member in a lot of trouble.
Bizarrely, though, neither the FAA nor the airlines publish a list of the most common violations or the possible consequences for these rule breaches.
One flight attendant said she was once warned that she could be fined for saying anything other than “the seatbelt signs are on” to a passenger who wanted to use the restroom during a turbulence flight. Her crime was adding the words: “at your own risk” to the end of the required sentence.
The idea behind this is to inform rather than enforce the rule that passengers must remain seated when the seatbelt is on. By telling a passenger to be careful or that they are using the lavatory at their own risk, it could suggest that the flight attendant is giving them permission to leave their seats.
Other common infractions include putting anything other than emergency equipment in an onboard stowage marked ’emergency equipment only’ and not updating their airline-approved rulebook on their cell phone or tablet.
No wonder US flight attendants don’t seem very service-orientated
There’s always much discussion over why US-based flight attendants don’t seem to provide good levels of service compared to top Asian and Middle Eastern carriers or even European airlines.
There are, of course, many reasons behind these different perceptions and experiences–low pay, high workload, and contract disputes that drag on for years, no doubt, don’t help.
You’ve also got to remember that aviation regulators in different countries have different approaches to how they handle safety compliance. Flying on many foreign airlines, there wouldn’t be any issue with a flight attendant providing service help to a passenger during compliance checks… in the US, however, this could result in the flight attendant getting in a lot of trouble.
The scenario of a fine for giving out some earphone is made up. It is a scenario. The article doesn’t report of any case where it happened.