Flight attendants hope to ground 'Flightplan'

updated 1:58 a.m. ET Sept. 29, 2005

LOS ANGELES - Three groups representing flight attendants are calling for a boycott of the box-office hit "Flightplan." In the Jodie Foster thriller about a mother looking for her missing daughter aboard a plane, a flight attendant colludes with an air marshal as part of a plot to extort a ransom from the airline.

Other flight attendants are shown treating passengers rudely and being unsympathetic to Foster's character, whom they think might be delusional.

The groups contend that the Disney film could breed distrust of their members among real airline passengers.

"Should there be another 9/11, it would be critical for the cabin crew to have the support of their passengers, not the distrust that this movie may engender," said Tommie Hutto-Blake, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants. "Our fellow crew members who perished in the line of duty deserve more respect."

Two other organizations — the Association of Flight Attendants and Transport Workers Union, Local 556 — also called for a "Flightplan" boycott.

Combined, the three groups represent more than 80,000 flight attendants at 23 airlines.

In a statement, Disney said it regrets the groups' reaction to the film.

"There was absolutely no intention by the studio or filmmakers to create anything other than a great action thriller," the company said. "We are confident that the public will be able to discern the difference between fiction and the incredible job that real-life flight attendants perform on a daily basis."

The film was No. 1 at the box office last weekend, collecting $24.6 million.

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