If you’ve ever found yourself steaming or freezing in flight, or on the ground, you’re not alone. Your flight attendants have noticed, too, and they want the FAA to do something about it.
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents 50,000 FAs at 20 airlines, held a news conference at Reagan National Airport in Washington, saying that the temperature issue is as much about safety as comfort. Sara Nelson, union president, said “This is an issue of safety, health and security. If it’s too hot, people can become dizzy, unaware, suffer from heat stroke. If it’s too cold, they can experience cold stress or even hypothermia.”
Nelson cited a number of incidents in which passengers, including a 4-month-old, required medical treatment because of overheating. The problem occurs most often on the ground, where only auxiliary power is available to power climate control equipment, but it can also happen in flight.
Airlines for America, which represents most of the major airlines, dissents; they say that temperatures are something that can be worked out between flight attendants and pilots. So far, by the way, the FAA’s only heat regulation says that cabin temperature has to be within 5º of cockpit temperature, whatever that may be at the moment.
