Training to De-Escalate Arguments, Fights, and Meltdowns

Travel can be stressful, especially when that travel involves taking flights from one location to another. After the time and hassle of getting to the airport, navigating security and dealing with often-delayed or even canceled flights, passengers are crammed into small seats with dozens of other passengers who just experienced the same stress. That can lead to high levels of conflict. And when those conflicts find their way into the media, airlines can face significant public relations challenges. Time for training.

“Arguments, fights and meltdowns have been a part of commercial airline service for decades,” writes Hugo Martin in an article for the LA Times, “but airborne conflicts have become viral internet sensations in the last few years, now that nearly every flier is armed with a smartphone and access to social media.” An incident that, in the past, might have only been noticed for a few dozen people, at most, can now be shared around the world in literally moments.
That’s why a Fort Worth-based airline carrier is requiring all of its flight attendants and any employees who deal with customers to take training on how to de-escalate conflicts with passengers. This applies to roughly 65,000 of the airline’s employees. That is, obviously, no small undertaking.
“The addition of such training had been discussed at the airline for months but became a priority after an incident in April when a feud broke out between a flight attendant and a passenger over a baby stroller,” according to Martin. “As has been the case with other cabin imbroglios, it was caught on camera and posted on the internet.”
Customer service is all about keeping customers happy. In a stressful environment like airplane travel, that can sometimes require de-escalating conflict between passengers or even between passengers and airline staff. An effective training program can hopefully go a long way towards that goal, as many of the underlying factors contributing to such stress and conflict may be unlikely to change in the near future.
The airline industry isn’t the only industry subject to potential PR and brand risk due to unfortunate incidents between customers and staff caught on tape and shared virally. Rather than wait until a situation happens to take steps to minimize such risks, companies should consider the types of issues they may be subject to and put steps in place now to ensure that employees have the training and information needed to respond effectively—and appropriately.