Southwest Airlines has issued a new memo to employees banning the use of smart glasses – as well as all other wearable technologies with the ability to recrd – during work hours, according to Skift.
- They cannot be used by employees, on or off premises
- Wireless earbuds with the ability to recording are specifically included in the policy. (I’m not sure what ‘earbuds that record’ even are.
According to a spokesperson for the airline, this policy applies to employees and does not apply to passengers.
We updated our policy [Thursday] for all employees — corporate and frontline — regarding smart glasses in the workplace. It does not apply in any way to customers.
According to the memo,
At Southwest, Safety and respect for personal privacy are foundational to how we work together and serve our Customers. With new wearable technology becoming more common, we’re introducing a new Smart Glasses and Wearable Recording Devices policy. This policy ensures clarity and consistency across the Company and supports our legal, Safety, and operational responsibilities.
Delta already bans smart glasses ‘unless issued by the airline’ (and I do not believe they have yet issued any).
Passengers can still record, within certain limits, but generally speaking passenger recording is allowed. Of course flight attendants still have their phones, they just can’t surreptitiously record using wearables. We don’t often see flight attendants taking photos and videos of unruly or strange customers! And of course that wouldn’t go over well if they did.
Airlines aren’t going to want employees taking photos and videos of passengers – including minors – or payment information, IDs, coworkers and passengers in airport restrooms, to name just a few. There’s legal risk, and there’s also reputational risk. Fairness and reciprocity is one thing, customers won’t feel customer buying travel from an airline whose staff are recording them even if other customers are recording them.
I do wonder, though, why not – what precipitated this – and whether there was a specific incident that served as the catalyst for the policy.
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