Q – Please be careful how you write this. I have a hobby – I travel a great deal for business, almost all of it international. As I do business on three Continents, I find myself flying many different airlines. About a year ago, I started taking quick photos of some of the better looking flight attendants as they walk the aisles. A business associate who was with me when I did it on an Swiss flight out of Zurich has cautioned me that you can get arrested for photographing a flight attendant. I am always polite and I usually ask permission. Can a paying passenger really get into trouble for collecting photos of beautiful flight attendants. These photos line the living room wall in my apartment but, other than that, they are completely confidential. Please print my question exactly as worded and do not use my name. I am seriously interested in your response.
A – Unfortunately, we lack the psychological qualifications to deal with your question professionally. Flight attendants are there for your safety – really they are. Photographing them as you might Lions on safari is a degrading activity and we might suggest that you travel less and spend time, instead, on a psychiatrist’s couch. Have you given any thought to how you are making the flight attendants feel when you treat them as objects for your enjoyment? We imagine you live alone with your photo wall. But flight attendants have husbands, wives, and children.
Let us stop there – and, instead, give you just one case study as reported by consumer travel writer Gary Leff:
Nine passengers on a Pegasus Airline flight were arrested by Turkish police after landing in Istanbul. The flight attendant charged that the passengers, all Israeli, took a video of her during the safety announcement. She claimed that this was sexual harassment. Three of the passengers in question were taken to a remote prison “close to the Syrian border.”
Never photograph any airline employee unless you have received very clear authorization to do so.
