Following a particularly charged (to put it delicately) day in the nation’s capital, American Airlines has announced that — for an undisclosed period of time — they will be banning booze on flights both to and from Washington D.C. in what they’re calling “precautionary measures.”
The ban, according to CNN, comes after reports of several flight attendants encountering incidents in which they were “forced to confront passengers exhibiting politically motivated aggression towards other passengers and crew.”
While Trump supporters have not been explicitly implicated in said incidents, the ban was implemented following the circulation of multiple videos on the internet in which Trump advocates can be seen harassing fellow passengers on flights to D.C., and on the same day that thousands of MAGA hat-sporting and flag-waving protesters, rioters and insurrectionists flooded, and eventually overtook, the Capitol.
“As safety professionals, we are well trained in handling inflight disruptions, but we should never find ourselves having to deal with politically motivated verbal or physical altercations onboard,” the Association of Professional Flight Attendants said in a statement to the union.
The message also encourages anyone traveling on departing flights from the D.C. area in the next few days to “remain extra vigilant,” and report any suspicious activity to the crew.
Also worth noting is the fact that we’re still very much in the throes of a global pandemic, and so if you can avoid traveling to or from D.C. in the next few days, that would be most preferable anyway. If not, and you happen to be flying American Airlines, know that you will not be sipping any onboard G&Ts until further notice.
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