 Global Incident Map – Current Threat Map
TERROR THREAT GUIDANCE FOR FLIGHT AND CABIN CREWS
- Arrive early and get up to speed on the latest operations protocols. Be polite and professional at all times, and empathetic to your passengers; but be FIRM when the situation demands it. Never forget who is in charge!
- Get to know your crew on a personal basis to increase CRM and teamwork.
- Leave the aircraft at every stop, enter the concourse, and WATCH YOUR EMBARKING PASSENGERS! This is the best way to identify a bad actor or a suspicious act. There is no substitute for awareness and that little voice in your head is there for a reason! Pay special attention to passengers who seem to know each other in the airport, then sit separately and do not converse on the airplane. Pay special attention to passenger who are staring back at YOU! Engage passengers in conversation. A passenger who doesn’t look suspicious may become so when engaged in conversation. A passenger who is not a bad actor will appreciate your being friendly to them.
- Identify passengers who may assist in the event of an onboard incident AFTER they are seated so you have an assist network throughout the cabin. Make friends with them, so they come to your aid instantly. You may not have much more time to get help than that.
- An unattended bag is a threat. Period.
- As long as liquids are prohibited, liquids carried by passengers are a threat. Period.
- Brief other crewmembers on this situation and this information. Work as one team, and of one mind.
- Monitor the amount of time passengers spend in lavatories and challenge them when appropriate. Monitor passengers who look at flight attendants excessively, conceal their hands, or bend forward toward the floor.
- Be especially aware of passengers who go into the lavatory one immediately after another, who may each carry different components of an explosive device and assemble the device in the lavatory. Ideally, inspect the lavatory after every single passenger leaves and prevent another passenger entering until your inspection is complete. Immediately challenge anyone in the lavatory when you smell a chemical or “nail polish” odor coming from the lav!
- Inspect seat bottoms, seat pockets and life jacket container seals after every flight.
- When passing passengers in the aisles, pass front to front – don’t turn your back to pass!
- Have a friendly conversation with your cockpit jumpseaters and LEO’s sufficient to establish they are legitimate. Encourage LEOs to take a “tactical seat.” Inspect ID’s closely.
- Pay attention to passengers onboard playing with jacket zippers, buttons, calculators and anything with liquid in it the cabin crew did not serve them. Immediately challenge anyone who hands an electronic device to another passenger without apparent need or reason!
- ABOVE ALL: DO NOT be hesitant to challenge passengers or request IMMEDIATE HELP when necessary. The threat is real, and you are the only thing between a successful flight and the next 9/11!
- Keep your phones and other devices charged and have a plan in case the system is significantly slowed or shut down. Notify your loved ones of your plan and any expectations you have of them.
- Plan to reduce cockpit access to the absolute minimum and use strong security procedures when granting access to cabin crew. Never turn you back on the cabin without a barrier in place.
- Carry a whistle around your neck or clipped to your uniform to get instant attention!
- Check back for more information as it becomes available
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