FAA warns of spike in unruly, dangerous passenger behavior
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Federal Aviation Administration is warning air travelers about what it describes as a dramatic increase in unruly or dangerous behavior aboard passenger airplanes.
In a typical year, the transportation agency sees 100 to 150 formal cases of bad passenger behavior. But since the start of this year, the agency said, the number of reported cases has jumped to 1,300, an even more remarkable number since the number of passengers remains below pre-pandemic levels.
The behavior in question includes passengers refusing to wear masks, drinking excessively and engaging in alleged physical or verbal assault, including what the agency describes as political intimidation and harassment of lawmakers.
In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for example, a fistfight broke out amid a dispute over mask-wearing. In Washington, D.C., a passenger was escorted off a flight after arguing with flight attendants over the mask rule.
In another case, a flight bound for Los Angeles was diverted to Denver and forced to make an emergency landing after a passenger allegedly tried to open an emergency exit.
In recent days, Alaska Airlines banned an Alaska state senator for refusing to comply with mask requirements, according to The Anchorage Daily News.
"It is not permissible and we will not tolerate interfering with a flight crew and the performance of their safety duties," Stephen Dickson, the administrator of the FAA, said of the wave of incidents. "Period."
The FAA is now taking a "zero-tolerance" approach to poor behavior: Unruly passengers face potential criminal charges, fines up to $35,000 or lifetime bans on certain airlines.
The bad behavior appears to be taking a toll. Angela Hagedorn, a former flight attendant with Alaska Airlines, tweeted that she recently resigned.
"It has been an exhausting time for all the employees who are just trying to do their job according to their company's policies," she said. "The constant arguing and pushback from guests, it's ridiculous."
Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants union, said airline employees have reported a wide range of troubling incidents.
"What we have seen on our planes is flight attendants being physically assaulted, pushed, choked," Nelson said. "We have a passenger urinate. We had a passenger spit into the mouth of a child on board.
"These are some of the things that we have been dealing with," Nelson said, adding that the physical and verbal abuse that flight attendants have allegedly experienced this year has been "way off the charts" compared to the last 20 years.
In the months ahead, as parts of the United States begin to rebound from the pandemic and a greater number of people take to the skies, the FAA — along with the Transportation Security Administration and Air Marshals — plan to watch closely for behavior that threatens crew members or passenger safety.
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The incidents are TEN-FOLD??? Perhaps the virus is causing some form of brain damage.
Evening Buzz...so over people and their feral behaviour...I say tazer the crap out of them... Cops and ordinary people have enough to contend with at the moment without dealing with total morons.
How are things your way?
How are things my way? Pretty boring these days. And how about you? More virus problems cropping up there?
No all good here..life has returned to normal for the moment. There are small outbreaks but we stamp them out straight away. Perth had a 3 day lock down the other week, but Australia is basically virus free. The only cases are all in quarantine.
We have banned flights from India for 2 weeks as did New Zealand. Over 53% of quarantine cases have come in from India and we are not overwhelming our quarantine/hospital facilities for anyone including fellow Aussies...10,000 want to come home from India but they are just going to have to wait their turn. Expected the usual screams and hissy fits of racist and the usual bull....Even a top Indian community leader said he understood the reason and backed it as did the community..and that is good enough for me.
We can now fly to New Zealand and they here. So yep we are going extremely well..
Has China responded to the Phillipines comments yet?? Headlines here so we watch with great interest...
I don't know but if I were to guess, I'd venture that China would ignore them. I doubt that The Mouse That Roared would have China shaking in its boots.
Well at least he was polite..he did say friend..
You ok over there sort of sounded a bit down??
Great got a koala grunting out the front..just what I don't need..I am off to hit the hay. Catch you later..
His leader has chastised him for being undiplomatic (and he's the Foreign Minister of all things) and crass, and he has now apologized to China.
What the hell is wrong with these people. I hope that the FAA starts fining them the max of $35,000 and if need be tase them to get them under control and banning them for life from flying commercial airlines.
I read earlier about the Alaskan state politician that has been banned by Alaska Airlines that is going to make her life a lot more difficult since AA is the only airline flying between Anchorage her home and Juneau the state capital where she works. Now she'll have to take a flight into Canada and then a ferry to Juneau.
The only description that fits the lot of them is, ''fucking morons''.
Evening... could not agree more...
Evening shona,
Some of the nut cases should be serving time in prison.
Hope all is well, down under.
Yep all good here...nice quiet evening, a male koala is grunting out the front and a female is screaming her head off... Yep what can I say...I was looking forward to a good night's sleep...
Is she berating the male cuz he didn't finish his ''honey do's''?
Err I think it is a case of...He is not her cup of tea..
Well....gonna take the devil's advocate position here...
....Went to Las Vegas a couple of years ago. Flew United. Will never fly them again. We landed in Houston and were only supposed to have an hour wait. It was more like 6 hours. When we got to LV, the hotel had to compensate us for one night. Then on the way back...Houston layover...United again...we had to wait ANOTHER 4 hours to get home!
With the way airlines treat their clientele is it any wonder people go off the deep end? And why can't all airports have a smoking section especially if you are going to make me wait 6 hours for my flight?
AMEN TO THAT!!! Every European airport I've been in has internal smoke shacks with some serious exhaust fans in them. I had NO PROBLEM with my 4 hour layover in Munich Germany, because of those smoke shacks. Same with Paris, Linkoping [such a small airport that no smoke shack was necessary... you could check in, walk out front and see the plane when it arrived and walk back through], Amsterdam, Miami, and Las Vegas. Miami and LV may have changed since I'd been in them last though. Europeans love their cigs still.
Atlanta used to have one and LV did the last time I was there. But DFW and Houston are so GD large that you can't step outside. At least Little Rock is small enough that you can. And you can't get a direct flight from Little Rock without going through DFW or Houston
I found an outside garden area at LAX once that was created for smokers. As far as treating unruly passengers, remove them from their flights, hefty fines, and put them on the no fly list for a minimum of 10 years.
DTW [Detroit Metro] nor New Orleans won't allow you to go out once you're checked in and they don't have a place to go either.
That's how Miami's is set up. One was right next to our gate, which was AWESOME! My husband and I hung out there during our entire layover on our way to St. Croix. Sunshine and cigs... while you wait to go to a US Caribbean island.
And I agree with your thoughts about unruly passengers.
The next time I fly I'm going to ask my doctor for some heavy duty Xanax.
I had NO PROBLEM with my 4 hour layover in Munich Germany
So that was you in there making all that smoke when we passed by....
I was there in 2018.
So were we...! 2014-2019. My waistline is a testament to how good the beer is!
Sadly, I was only there for a layover though.
There's been twice I've left the country for work [Canada doesn't count... been there plenty, but I can see Canada from my porch overhang]. The first time was to Linkoping, Sweden and had a layover in Amsterdam going to and coming from; that was the only layover. We stayed one night in Amsterdam on the way out... on 4/20.
The second trip was ultimately to Timisoara, Romania. That was the trip I was nervous about, because I had to be on my own the entire time. Left DTW and flew into Paris where I had a 2 hour layover and that was just fine by me... I knew how to order my cafe au lait. Then I flew from Paris to Bucharest... no layover, almost missed my flight out to Timisoara. Then, on the return from Timisoara, back to Bucharest, and then onto Munich, but I was the luckiest out of the three of us... I got a direct flight from Munich to DTW. That's why I had such a long layover in Munich, but again, I didn't mind. Good food, a place to smoke, and a little bit of touristy shopping.
This reminds me I have to book my tickets for Sep.
This is not surprising at all.
Division is contagious, profitable and leadable.
Our politicians and media have worked towards these ends for years.
And we allowed it.
Voting for the party and not voting for the PEOPLE that we are giving power to.
sad