After a year and more of dealing with escalating cases of air rage by drunken passengers, angry mask refusers and others. flight attendants and the airlines they work for are asking for stronger measures to control the problem.
Although recent incident totals are showing some drop after FAA began imposing bigger fines, the totals are four times last year’s total and even higher than for pre-pandemic years. So far this year, 4,385 incidents have been serious enough to report to FAA, and some have led to plane diversions or delays and arrests.
Flight attendants, who have borne the brunt of the issue, have been most outspoken in demanding stronger action, most recently in Congressional hearings earlier this week, where they have asked for federal prosecution of the most serious cases, a ban on to-go alcohol at airports, and perhaps most significant, asking that the ‘no-fly’ lists that airlines have compiled of unruly customers be shared so that violators can’t simply switch to another carrier.
That last idea has support from Delta, which sent a memo to flight attendants last week, stating its support. Delta has more than a thousand entries on its list. The memo, signed by Delta’s senior VP of in-flight services, said “We’ve also asked other airlines to share their ‘no fly’ list to further protect airline employees across the industry — something we know is top of mind for you as well. A list of banned customers doesn’t work as well if that customer can fly with another airline.”
