It turns out that political lectures on an airplane can come from somewhere other than that one annoying passenger. At least, that’s the case with Kyle Kashuv, a pro-gun Parkland student and school shooting survivor. Kashuv, at the moment, is meeting with legislators from all sides of the gun debate in support of the Stop School Violence Act, which seeks to prevent violence at schools without infringing on Americans’ Second Amendment rights. Despite his efforts to cross party lines in order to find a solution, however, many journalism outlets are ignoring Kashuv in favor of the survivors who want a gun ban.
There’s no need for you right-wingers and pro-2A leftists, centrists, libertarians, etc. to cancel your Spirit flights. Spirit apologized to Kashuv via Twitter and will be looking into the incident in the future, so it’s likely not a company-wide problem. What I don’t know is whether this flight attendant got political at the wrong time or intended the anti-gun lecture to be a dig at Kashuv. I’m giving the flight attendant the benefit of the doubt, but, if new stuff surfaces, expect an update.
I don’t know the exact rules of what Spirit flight attendants are allowed to and not allowed to speak about during a flight, but it’s generally frowned upon to bring politics into customer service. Why? Because politics makes people mad and that’s the opposite of what a customer service worker should do on the job. Given the nature of the airline, I’m just surprised Spirit didn’t charge for the lecture too. (Or did they? I wouldn't put it past them.)
In this day and age, I think the flight attendant would have been at least suspended, fined, or even fired for lecturing a captive audience about supporting the Second Amendment or Kashuv’s plan. However, I would have had the same “Dude, what?” reaction if that were the case. Spirit Airlines is not Politics Airlines and it should stay that way. The world is political enough as it is and doesn’t need random lectures added to the mix.
I’m all for ending the taboo on discussing politics in the US, but on a plane as a flight attendant is not the best place to do that. This is 2018, the era where anything and everything can be political. Most people don’t want to hear one more thing about politics and you should be wary of the people who do. That said, I think the politicization of everything in sight contributes to the tension of today. What do you guys think? Do you think this was an intentional dig at Kashuv or just someone taking advantage of the convenient captive audience?
Sources and Photos:
https://www.dailywire.com/news/28378/watch-parkland-survivor-kyle-kashuv-debates-piers-frank-camp
https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2018/03/22/spirit-airlines-apologizes-to-kyle-kashuv-for-overly-political-flight-attendant/
http://enelaire.mx/por-problemas-en-sistema-spirit-airlines-suspende-vuelos/