Starting next month, flight attendants and other customer-facing employees at United Airlines will only be able to wear a US flag pin: all other country flag pins will be banned. The move comes after several controversial incidents concerning Palestinian flag pins over the last year.

US Flag Pins Will Be Only Country Flag Pins Allowed In Uniform At United Airlines

Last August, a Jewish organization took offense to a United flight attendant wearing a Palestinian flag pin and shamed her on social media:

(We saw similar incidents on JetBlue and Delta Air Lines.)

But while JetBlue and Delta banned flag pins, United defended the right of its flight attendants to wear such pins, saying:

“Our uniform policy has long included an option for flight attendants to wear flag pins to designate specific language skills so that our customers who are more comfortable in a language other than English can know who on our crew speaks their preferred language. We also allow flight attendants to wear flag pins that represent their pride in a place to which they may have a special connection.”

It was that last sentence that proved so controversial…Does United allow Taiwan flag pins on flights to Mainland China?  Or the Estelada flag (flown by Catalan independence supporters) on flights to Madrid? Or Russia pins?

> Read More: Flight Attendant Sparks Outrage Over Palestinian Flag Pin, But United Airlines Supports Her

Today, a flight attendant forwarded me United’s current approved pins page (there’s a list of 18 approved pins) with a note under country flag pins:

Note: starting May 28, only US flag pins will be allowed

Although I’ve seen no formal memo or other communication about this change, it represents a remarkable policy change for United.

This Policy Is Sad But Logical

As I’ve argued before, it makes sense to ban such controversial pins while in uniform, even if it reflects an unfortunate reality of incivility; a time in which we cannot tolerate opposing views on highly controversial issues. The pins can become a distraction and undermine the primary mission of an airline to provide safe, reliable, and quality air transport. The ban is therefore appropriate because of the passions that an Israeli or, particularly, a Palestinian flag pin inflames. Russian versus Ukrainian flag pins may evoke the same reaction.

I do love it when flight attendants wear flag pins to designate what language(s) they speak. I also loved it when Emirates once had flag pins to show where its diverse crews came from and what languages they spoke…

I was quite surprised that United took a much different approach to this issue than Delta or JetBlue. Part of me still wishes we could wear our respective pins and respectfully debate. But that’s not the country or nation we live in and United should not subject passengers to such incivility when flags can stand for hate and terror.

Better to look uniform in uniform…

Finally, I hate being so cynical, but I wonder if this is part of CEO Scott Kirby’s push to ingratiate United with the Trump Administration as it works on a partnership with JetBlue?

CONCLUSION

While United has not explained the logic behind its upcoming ban on country flag pins, with an exception for the US flag, it just makes sense in this very divided world in which flags can be interpreted (and misinterpreted) as signs of hate.

What do you think about United’s updated flag pin policy?