Verbal abuse, threats and intimidation are not part of the job. If it happened to you or a colleague, report it — every incident logged builds the case for change.
Survey link coming soonWhat the campaign is
Abuse against airport ground and passenger-facing staff is a persistent and worsening problem — and too often treated as “part of the job.” It isn't. Abuse Doesn't Fly exists to change that: to put a consistent, sector-wide process behind reporting and escalating abuse, so incidents are properly recorded, escalated, and acted upon — and so the true scale of what our members face is finally understood.
This isn't just our branch's impression. A separate Unite survey of over 300 workers at Scotland's major airports (Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow) found similar results: over 90% reported regular verbal abuse in the last year, over 75% had faced intimidation or aggression, and 29% had experienced some form of physical assault. 34% said they'd considered leaving the industry because of it, and 77% said the abuse had affected their mental health.
Figures from Unite the Union's Scotland airports survey, cited here as corroborating evidence. Our own national incident survey is still gathering responses — see below.
The traffic light system
One scale, used the same way across the airport — so everyone knows what happens next, and nothing quietly disappears.
Green
Low-level incident.
Logged and monitored. The pattern is tracked over time.
Amber
Escalating concern.
Management action required. A formal record is raised.
Red
Serious incident.
Immediate removal from the situation. Police involved where needed.
What the national campaign is asking for
The traffic light system above is our own internal tool — how staff escalate an incident once it happens. Separately, Unite is running a national campaign asking government and industry for changes across the whole sector, including:
- A clear, national, worker-led approach to abusive and disruptive passenger behaviour.
- Powers for airports and airlines to ban serious or repeat offenders, coordinated across operators — so someone banned by one airline can't simply fly with another.
- Minimum industry standards: more police presence at peak times, mandatory zero-tolerance signage, better incident recording, panic alarms in key areas, counselling support for affected workers, training on reporting and escalating abuse, and regular joint review of incidents with union reps.
These are complementary, not duplicate asks: the national campaign is about industry-wide standards and cross-operator bans; our traffic light system is about what happens on the ground here, the moment an incident is reported.
Backed in Parliament
The campaign has been formally recognised in the House of Commons. Early Day Motion 639, “Abuse Doesn't Fly Campaign,” puts the case for protecting airport workers on the parliamentary record — and MPs can add their names to it.
Early Day Motion639
Ask your MP to sign EDM 639. 15 MPs had signed as of 18 September 2026 — that number will keep moving, so check the motion page above for the current count.
New law: employers on the hook for third-party harassment
From 30 October 2026, the Employment Rights Act 2025 brings in a new duty on employers around harassment by third parties — customers, passengers, anyone who isn't a colleague. Employers will have to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent it, and will be liable if they can't show those steps were taken.
Harassment covers unwanted conduct linked to a protected characteristic — age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation — that violates a worker's dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.
This is a genuine step forward, but it isn't a complete fix — not all passenger abuse will meet that legal threshold, so it doesn't replace the case for the wider changes this campaign is asking for. Once the duty is in force, reps should check their employer is actually complying with it.
Take the survey
The national incident survey is how the campaign builds its evidence. It takes a few minutes, it can be filled in about an incident that happened to you or to a colleague, and the more responses it gets the harder it is to dismiss.
The national incident survey is being finalised. This page will be updated with the link as soon as it is published.
Campaign artwork & downloads
Print-ready posters, banners and QR codes will be available here, so any branch can use the same materials instead of remaking their own. This section is still being set up.
Reps who need artwork before then can get in touch via admin@unitehub.app.