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American Morning
Flight Attendants Requesting More Security
Aired October 31, 2001 - 09:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Airline flight attendants are considering a work stoppage if tougher security measures are not put in place soon.
Patricia Friend is president of the 50,000-member Association of Flight Attendants. She joins us from Washington this morning.
Good morning, Ms. Friend.
PATRICIA FRIEND, PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS: Good morning, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Thanks for being with us. Let's begin with a real basic question, do you think it's safe to fly right now?
FRIEND: Well, the flight attendants in this country are still very uncomfortable, very much on edge and we believe that we are as vulnerable to attack today as we were on the 11th of September.
O'BRIEN: Really, despite all that we've seen, all the added measures that are in place, the longer lines, the additional questions, it's just as dangerous?
FRIEND: That's the -- that's the problem is that everything you're seeing is visible. What we see behind the scenes has not changed at all. We are not screening any more checked baggage. We have not begun to screen and check those ground personnel who have access to the aircraft and to the -- to the secure areas of the airport. We've done nothing to upgrade the training or the defensive capabilities in the cabin for the flight attendants. It's all window dressing on the security changes.
O'BRIEN: All right, window dressing. Now the legislation which is going to be discussed in Washington as we speak would federalize the security screening process. Do you think that will do any good if that in fact happens?
FRIEND: Well, we think it's bigger than just federalizing a work force. It's about giving the federal government their responsibility for aviation security. It's about creating a motivated and trained work force responsible not only for screening carry-on baggage and screening passengers but having the force of the law behind them and the ability to secure all of the airport areas. O'BRIEN: I suppose there are a lot of airline passengers out there who don't know that every bag that goes into the belly of an aircraft on a domestic flight is not screened. That only happens on international flights. And also the bag matching between the passengers and the bags that get on board only occurs on international flights. Is that something that is practical? Can it be done given the volume of traffic in this country?
FRIEND: Well there was a test some years ago on the issue of positive bag match, which quite simply is ensuring that if a -- if a passenger checks a piece of luggage on an aircraft that that passenger actually rides on the aircraft with that luggage. And there was a test done some years ago that was quite successful and proved that in fact it is possible on domestic flights.
On the issue of screening the checked baggage, while I agree that we don't have sufficient number of the high-tech machines to screen 100% of the checked baggage tomorrow, we have a large number of those machines in place and they are not being utilized. I, myself, was randomly selected for a checked baggage screening out of Dulles on Sunday afternoon. And when I went to the location of the machine to have my checked baggage screened, I was the only passenger there. There were four employees just sitting around with this huge expensive machine and one passenger having one bag screened. Those bags go through those machines just about every two to four minutes, if they're using them fully. So we need to be using the equipment that we have while we're producing and putting in place additional equipment.
O'BRIEN: All right, Ms. Friend, just briefly, we are out of time, what about perhaps non-lethal types of things, tasers, that sort of thing? So these are kinds of things the flight attendants are going to be pushing for or is it enough to say there'll be, you know, sky marshals and perhaps, as if the pilot's suggestion gets any credence, arming the pilots?
FRIEND: Well, the pilots are going to be behind a fortified cockpit door with instructions not to open the cockpit door or leave so the defenses will fall to the flight attendants. If we have a sky marshal, there won't be one on every flight. Yes, we very much believe that the flight attendants and the passengers deserve some means of defense in the cabin of the aircraft, up to, and including, stun guns and air tasers.
O'BRIEN: Patricia Friend is the president of the Association of Flight Attendants. Thank you for being with us this morning.
FRIEND: Thank you.
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