Unite the Union, the dominant trade union representing workers across the UK’s civil aviation sector, has launched a campaign against abuse of airport workers. Its landmark survey has revealed the scale of abuse airport workers and cabin crew experience daily.
A third of ground crew have been physically assaulted, research finds
The research found 72% of ground staff and 71% of cabin crew receive verbal abuse at least monthly. Almost a third of ground crew and 42% of cabin crew have been physically assaulted. Alcohol was found to be the biggest trigger for harassment, with 95% of cabin crew and 55% of ground crew citing this, followed by flight cancellations and baggage issues. In September 2026, crew members took matters into their own hands, duct-taping a violent passenger to his seat.
Unite’s Abuse Doesn’t Fly campaign is calling for new laws to be introduced to ban abusive and violent passengers from airports. This includes ensuring passengers can transfer to alternative airports and airlines, giving airports the power to facilitate this. It also calls for minimum standards, including increased police presence, panic alarms, counselling services for staff, and regular incident reviews.
“Airports and airlines now need to up their game on this”
On Oct. 30, changes to the law took effect under the Employment Rights Act 2025. This means airports and airlines must take reasonable steps to prevent third parties, such as passengers, from harassing workers. The aviation bill is currently going through Parliament, but Unite said it will not fully protect workers. It will allow the Civil Aviation Authority to ban disruptive passengers across multiple airlines, but only for abuse that occurs on a flight.
When questioned on the adequacy of the support available after experiencing abuse, Unite found 71% of ground staff and 60% of ground crew reported management support was not adequate. A previous survey conducted by Unite in 2025 revealed 34% of women working in civil air transport had been sexually harassed at work.
In a statement, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said:
“Abuse towards airport and aviation workers is not ‘part of the job’, it is a workplace safety issue that affects workers on the ground and in the air and can ultimately put other passengers at risk. All too often these workers are being left in harmful positions while doing very difficult jobs.
“Airports and airlines now need to up their game on this. They must make the safety of workers their top priority and work with Unite to stamp out workplace abuse once and for all. No worker should ever be put in dangerous situations for simply doing their job.”
Unite provided several case studies from workers willing to speak about their experiences, including a male airside bus driver:
“I’ve had hot coffee thrown in my face multiple times after telling passengers they can’t take hot drinks on board. I tried to stop one passenger who did throw a hot drink at me from boarding and was told by management that I had to let him on. Another time, when I asked a passenger to fold their buggy they hit me with it, knocked me to the ground and threw it at me.
“I’ve received a lot of verbal abuse too. I’ve been sworn at or told to go ‘back home’ to my own country. Often when to stop an abusive passenger from boarding, they just get on the next bus and can get on the aircraft. There is no mechanism in place to warn another driver about their behaviour. The situation has definitely been getting worse in recent months and often management can be blasé about the abuse we get.”
Do you think abusive passengers should be banned from airports and airlines? Let us know in the comments.
