This Has to Stop

The FAA says there's been an unsettling increase in unruly behavior and violent incidents aboard commercial flights.

In any given year, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) deals with somewhere between 100 to 150 cases of disruptive inflight behavior. So far in 2021, there have been 2,500 incidents - 1,900 of which have dealt with passenger refusal to wear a face covering. This is telling in that most inflight disturbances don’t make their way to the FAA. Gary Leff, publisher of View From The Wing, believes this may get worse before it gets better, citing a number of reasons to justify his thinking. I agree with him on several, including the fact that increased passenger numbers mean we’re more likely to see greater incidents of unruly behavior. Also, fewer business travelers means fewer experienced travelers and more folks who may be inclined to push the envelope.

Lora Reinbold from Eagle River, AK said she'd not been notified of the ban and hoped to fly Alaska Airlines again.

Unfortunately, incidents of bad behavior have been on the increase. Recently, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for example, a fistfight broke out amid a dispute over wearing face coverings. In Washington, DC, a passenger was escorted off a flight after arguing with flight attendants over the mask requirement. In another case, a flight bound for Los Angeles diverted to Denver and was forced to make an emergency landing after a passenger allegedly tried to open an emergency exit. In recent days, Alaska Airlines banned a state senator for refusing to comply with mask requirements, according to the Anchorage Daily News. Besides some refusing to wear masks aboard, the behavior in question also includes passengers drinking excessively and engaging in physical or verbal assault. “It is not permissible and we will not tolerate interfering with a flight crew and the performance of their safety duties. Period,” Stephen Dickson, the Administrator of the FAA, said of the recent wave of incidents.

The Federal Aviation Administration is getting aggressive when it comes to disorderly passengers aboard US flights.

In the meantime, Federal regulators are pursuing large penalties against several airline passengers accused of disrupting flights. Several weeks ago, the FAA announced that it would seek fines totaling more than $100,000 against four passengers on recent flights. The most egregious incident occurred on a Delta Air Lines flight from Honolulu to Seattle last December. On that occasion, a man tried to open the cockpit door and assaulted a flight attendant twice, striking him in the face the second time after he broke free from plastic handcuffs. The police boarded the plane in Seattle, took the man into custody and the FAA is now seeking a penalty of $52,500 against the perpetrator. The FAA has also proposed a $27,000 penalty against a man on a New Year’s Day flight aboard Southwest Airlines who yelled, saying he had a bomb and would blow up the plane. The pilots made landed the plane in Oklahoma City where the man was arrested.

Excessive drinking onboard can be disruptive, dangerous and really unpleasant for the crew and other passengers.

There’s more. In fact, there’s some $64,500 more. In what‘s become a weekly occurrence, the FAA‘s proposed new fines against unruly passengers, including mask struggles and those involving alcohol. One passenger was fined $15,000 for an altercation on a JetBlue Airways flight from Miami to Los Angeles on February 22. The FAA alleges the passenger in economy class visited a friend in First Class and brought back some of the items served in the front of the plane, including champagne, food and a headset. The flight attendant carried those items back to First Class. The passenger followed him into the forward cabin and allegedly assaulted him with her body and almost pushed him into the bathroom. That flight was diverted to Austin, Texas and the offending passenger was removed. Another JetBlue passenger was fined $15,000 for acting up on a January 10 flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Los Angeles. The FAA says that passenger twice drank alcohol he brought on board, despite flight attendants telling him that was prohibited. He also talked on his cellphone and yelled at the flight attendant when told not to do so. Other disturbances carrying an additional $30,500 in fines involved non compliance with current Federal face mask requirements.

In-flight disruptions have caused American to continue the suspension of alcohol sales in their economy cabins.

The increased incidence of misbehavior involving alcohol has prompted two airlines to change scheduled policy. American Airlines said last month that economy passengers will have to wait until at least September 13 before they can order a mid-flight drink. The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline had previously announced plans to end its pause on alcohol sales in the economy cabin this summer. Sales of booze in the carrier’s main cabins were first suspended in late March last year in order to limit interactions between passengers and flight attendants amid the COVID pandemic. The decision to continue the ban on alcohol sales through most of the summer comes after numerous accounts of unruly passengers in recent months. “Over the past week, we’ve seen some of these stressors created deeply disturbing situations on board aircraft. Let me be clear: American Airlines will not tolerate assault or mistreatment of our crews,” Vice President of Flight Service Brady Byrnes said in an internal memo to flight attendants. “While we appreciate that customers and crew members are eager to return to ‘normal,’ we will move cautiously and deliberately when restoring pre-COVID practices.”

Southwest Airlines has ditched its plans to resume alcohol sales amid increasingly unmanageable onboard incidents.

For their part, Southwest Airlines is also delaying alcohol service after a spate of unruly incidents aboard their aircraft. The airline was planning to resume selling drinks this month on Hawaii flights and in July on other flights, a move that was questioned by the president of the union representing Southwest flight attendants. “Given the recent uptick in industry-wide incidents of passenger disruptions inflight, we have made the decision to pause the previously announced re-start of alcohol service,” Southwest spokesman Chris Mainz said recently. Mainz acknowledged the decision might disappoint some customers, “but we feel this is the right decision at this time in the interest of the safety and comfort of all customers and crew onboard.” The airline has not determined when the sale of alcohol will return.

This Southwest flight attendant, who was not named, is pictured being helped off the aircraft with a bloody face.

Undoubtedly, the most horrific incident occurred on May 29 aboard a Southwest Airlines flight from Sacramento, California to San Diego when a 28-year old passenger was accused of striking a flight attendant. The assault caused injuries to the flight attendant’s face and the loss of two teeth! The unnamed flight attendant was transported to nearby Scripps Memorial Hospital. An airline spokesman confirmed the incident involving a crew member took place on Flight #700 on that Sunday morning. “The passenger repeatedly ignored standard inflight instructions and became verbally and physically abusive upon landing,” Mainz claimed in an email response to questions from USA Today. “Law enforcement officials were requested to meet the flight upon arrival and the passenger was taken into custody.” The Port of San Diego Harbor Police later identified the offending passenger as Vyvianna Quinonez and reported she was booked into the Las Colinas Detention Facility, a women’s complex, and charged with battery causing serious bodily harm, a felony. The airline has since permanently banned Ms. Quinonez and she’s been advised that she may no longer fly on Southwest Airlines.

Two of the most recent instances of disruptive passenger behavior in the US occurred aboard Delta Air Lines flights.

And the madness continues. A brawl took place on June 4 at the American Airlines ticket counter at the Miami Airport. It’s not clear what started the melée but fists were flying and one of the gentlemen was nearly pushed into the baggage belt behind the check-in desk. The next day Delta Flight #386 from Los Angeles to Nashville diverted to Albuquerque when a passenger starting banging on the cockpit door, screaming “Stop the plane!’ That's when crewman Christopher Williams wrestled the man to the floor of the cabin and zip-tied his hands together. Once on the ground in New Mexico, the passenger was taken into custody by airport police and turned over to the FBI. Finally, a Delta Air Lines flight from Los Angeles to New York was diverted to Detroit Thursday night after an allegedly drunken passenger became unruly, the carrier said. The pilot told other passengers the unruly woman became “a threat” forcing the diversion. Delta issued a statement to CBS News saying the flight was redirected “after a customer issue on board. The customer was met by law enforcement upon landing. We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience.”

This has to stop. Flying should never be taken for granted. It's a privilege - not a right. If travelers don't understand the rules, they should ask for clarification. If, on the other hand, they don't wish to comply with those rules and regulations, they should be driving and not flying. Otherwise, they risk arrest, fines or possible imprisonment and you can bet their flying privileges on the aggrieved airline might soon be taken away.

Until next time...travel safe.