7.18.19 – Association of Professional Flight Attendants’ National President Testifies at Congressional Hearing

Thursday, July 18, 2019

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL FLIGHT ATTENDANTS’ NATIONAL PRESIDENT
TESTIFIES AT ‘STATE OF AVIATION SAFETY’
CONGRESSIONAL HEARING

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) National President Lori Bassani was invited to testify before Congress yesterday on today’s most urgent aviation safety issues. As the President of the largest independent Flight Attendant union in the world, Bassani’s testimony focused on several pressing safety issues facing Flight Attendants every day.

The tone of the hearing was set by two family members of Ethiopian Air Flight 302 crash victims. Paul Njoroge lost his wife, three young children, and his mother-in-law on the Boeing 737 MAX. Michael Stumo lost his daughter. Both spoke movingly of the devastation the accident left among the families and the need for transparency and accountability.

Representing Flight Attendants, Bassani spoke to concerns about decreasing seat sizes affecting emergency evacuations, air rage, cabin air quality, emotional support animals, implementing the 10-hour minimum rest FAR, heightened Congressional oversight of FAA oversight and the ongoing concerns about the Boeing 737 MAX.

“The passengers are already—in the normal case of getting on or off the airplane—having difficulty getting into the aisle or getting into their seats,” Bassani said. “It is torture for our passengers and for us. Can you imagine a stressful situation trying to evacuate passengers in a real-life scenario from a plane that is burning or that is half tilted with a number of exits blocked? APFA believes it is time for a real-world assessment of the current standards.”

Because the FAA does not have a reporting standard, the full extent of toxic fume contamination remains largely unknown and underreported. “On our airline last year alone, we had over 1500 fume events reported to our union. We have been hospitalized and have suffered chronic and permanent neurological damage,” said Bassani. APFA called on the FAA to conduct a baseline study to establish the true nature of the problem and its impact on Flight Attendants and has hired a full-time fume event specialist in the union.

Bassani also pointed out that it appeared that DOT and the FAA were dragging their feet on implementing the Congressionally-mandated 10-hour minimum rest rule. “We know that when Congress passed the 10-hour minimum rest legislation for Flight Attendants, the intent was clear. Passengers deserve Flight Attendants who are alert and ready to respond. This is not complex legislation. It is a simple, common-sense rule that needs to be implemented now.”

“As aviation’s first responders and the last line of defense, safety is in our DNA,” said Bassani and she continued, “On any given flight we can be called upon to treat a heart attack, fight a fire, avert a security risk, provide comfort to a child traveling alone, deescalate a passenger conflict, deal with delays and turbulence, all the while being prepared to evacuate an aircraft at a moment’s notice.”

Other stakeholders from the aviation community who also testified included John Samuelsen of TWU, Captain Joe DePete of ALPA, Mike Perrone of PASS and Dana Schulze from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Full Testimony: https://www.apfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2019-Lori-Written-Testimony-71719-Final-Signed.pdf

Video of the Hearing: https://transportation.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/the-subcommittee-on-aviation-hearing-on_–state-of-aviation-safety