Take LCC To Task For Innuendo-Laden Ads, Alcohol Promotion

Flight attendants with low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines say management recently launched a series of "degrading and demeaning" advertisements... and they've had enough.

Past Spirit ad campaigns include the 'Many Islands, Low Fares' campaign. The "MILF" campaign was originally introduced in 2007; the company claimed that it was unaware MILF could be an off-color term for an attractive mother. Despite this backlash (or perhaps because of the media storm it created) Spirit brought back the campaign earlier this month.

Other campaigns include "We’re having a threesome" or the "We’re proud of our DDs" e-mails.

"I feel as though I have entered a time warp and am reliving the battles for respect and justice for women that we fought for 40 years ago," said Patricia Friend, President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA). "Several promotional fare ads, with their not very subtle innuendoes, are demeaning not to just the hardworking flight attendants at Spirit Airlines but to all of America's professional flight attendants. They offend not just the female population of this country but the male members of humanity who admire and respect women."

It gets worse... or, at least, weirder. Recently, management introduced a proposal which would require Spirit flight attendants to wear inflight aprons adorned with an alcoholic beverage logo.

"Turning flight attendants into walking billboards is unacceptable," said Deborah Crowley, AFA-CWA Spirit President. "The proposed aprons diminish the primary and federally mandated role of flight attendants as safety professionals and our role as first responders onboard."

The AFA-CWA notes flight attendants have a statutory obligation to enforce Federal Aviation Administration regulations regarding intoxicated passengers. Inflight aprons that prominently display a logo from an alcoholic beverage company send the wrong signal to passengers and diminish the ability of flight attendants to enforce vital safety and security regulations and procedures onboard.

AFA-CWA has formally requested that Spirit management withdraw the demeaning advertising campaigns and replace them with professional and respectful messaging. They've been joined in that effort by the airline's pilots.

"The recent US Airways accident in New York again proved that flight attendants are definitely not 'waitresses in the sky,' no matter what Spirit management may think," said Capt. Sean Creed, chair of the Spirit Airlines branch of the Air Line Pilots Association.

"They are responsible for the safety of millions of passengers each day, and they are the first responders should any incident occur. The pilots join them in demanding that this management stop these campaigns and run this company more like an airline and less like a frat house."

FMI: www.afanet.org, www.alpa.org, www.spiritair.com/