Flight attendants union asks FAA to require airlines to screen passengers for swine flu

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/economy/ap/48689222.html

By: HARRY R. WEBER
Associated Press
06/20/09 8:20 PM EDT

ATLANTA — A national flight attendants union wants the Federal Aviation Administration to require U.S. airlines to develop and implement passenger-screening standards because of the swine flue scare.

The request, if granted, could be costly to an industry already reeling from a drop-off in demand due to the weak economy.

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA also asked the FAA in a letter Monday to order airlines to provide flight attendants with non-latex gloves and masks and to allow flight attendants with flu-like symptoms to call in sick but not have the absence counted against their allotted sick leave.

"We believe that the FAA administrator has the authority to issue such an order ... in light of the serious threat that this outbreak poses to flight attendants and passengers on flights into and out of affected areas," an AFA-CWA official said in the letter.

The letter added that protecting flight attendants "will reduce the risk of disease transmission for all aircraft occupants."

The AFA represents flight attendants at several airlines that offer flights to Mexico, including US Airways and United Airlines. A spokeswoman for the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents pilots at several major U.S. carriers, did not return a call to the group's Washington offices Tuesday seeking comment.

FULL story at link.

[konnichi wa]

1. Can somebody screen the FAs for stupidity?

:eyes:

[imdjh]

2. In other news, Consumers Union asks FAA to screen flight attendants for personality disorders. nt

[SheilaT]

3. I cannot understand the continued hype and

hysteria about the swine flu, when by all accounts it's actually extremely mild. Out of how many tens of thousands of cases reported maybe a couple hundred have died. And the repeated assurances that it could mutate into something deadlier serves absolutely no purpose.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: if a new and deadly disease really does arise, which kills many people swiftly, it won't be from anyplace we're looking so hard at, such as influenza, but something completely different.

What is constantly overlooked in the bogus comparisons to the 1918 epidemic is how many things are very different since then. The main and most important one is hand washing. Ninety years ago a lot of homes in this country did not have running water, and handwashing was sporadic at best. Now, it's a rare home that doesn't have running water, outhouses are rare. And even a crappy job of handwashing is better than none at all.

I think a greater danger would be something that affects animals and insects in some way, and that impacts the food supply or something else in a huge way.

Meanwhile, the danger to flight attendants or airline passengers from swine flu is vanishingly trivial.