Flight attendants serve a critical safety function in the cabin (no, they aren't just there to hand out snacks). But after years of decline, incidents of unruly passengers spiked in 2018 and from 2020–2021, they've hit record numbers — largely because passengers fail to listen to flight attendant directions about the new mask policy. In this episode we spoke with Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants, about what travel has been like during the COVID-19 pandemic and why she's proud to be a flight attendant.

Read our blog post about being a good airline passenger.