Flight attendants lament lack of training, poor security

Oct 30, 2003 12:00 PM

Flight attendants are no better prepared to stop a terrorist than they were on Sept. 11 2001, because the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the airlines have failed to provide comprehensive security and counter-terrorism training, the Association of Flight Attendants, AFL-CIO, International contends.

"The TSA needs to stop pointing to the air marshal program as a fail-proof layer in our security system, since marshals only work a small fraction of flights each day," says the association's president, Patricia Friend. "Most passengers aren't lucky enough to have air marshals on board their plane. The pilots -- and their guns -- are locked behind reinforced cockpit doors with explicit instructions not to open the cockpit door in the event of a terrorist attack. A lack of appropriate training leaves the flight attendants unprepared to serve as the only means of security and protection in the aircraft cabin."

In testimony before the House Transportation and Infrastructure's aviation subcommittee on October 16, TSA Secretary James Loy claimed his agency had developed mandatory guidelines for flight attendant security training, but the agency was waiting for Congress to act again before issuing the guidelines to carriers.

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