Flight attendants’ union pushes no-fly list for unruly passengers: ‘Our flights are under attack’

February 16, 2022:

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

The nation’s largest flight attendants’ union is calling for disruptive passengers to be added to a national no-fly list after a spate of incidents in which flight attendants were “punched, kicked, spit on, and sexually assaulted.”

Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, referenced a disturbance on a cross-country American Airlines flight Sunday when a 50-year-old man tried to get into the cockpit and open the plane’s exit door.

“You’re either for protecting crew and passengers from these attacks or you’re against,” Nelson said in a statement on Tuesday.

“We need clear and consistent rules with strict consequences for those who cannot respect our collective efforts to keep everyone safe – in the air and on the ground,” she said. “We urge the FAA, TSA, and DOJ to come together to implement a plan with due process to keep dangerous flyers on the ground.”

American Airlines aircraft are shown parked at their gates at Miami International Airport in Miami.
(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian voiced his support for adding disruptive passengers to a no-fly list earlier this month, writing in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland that there should be “zero tolerance” for behavior that could affect safety.

CALIFORNIA MAN WHO FORCED PLANE TO DIVERT TO KANSAS CITY ALLEGEDLY SAID ‘WE’RE GOING TO BRING DOWN THE PLANE’

Unruly behavior in the skies surged in 2021 as air travel rebounded during the coronavirus pandemic.

There were 5,981 reports of unruly passengers last year, 4,290 of which were related to face masks. About two-thirds of the 394 unruly passenger reports this year have been related to face masks.

Passengers line up outside the Spirit Airlines terminal at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021.
(AP Photo/Eugene Garcia)

Eight Republican senators wrote a letter to Garland on Monday to express their “strong opposition” to the proposed no-fly list, since most incidents are related to the mask mandate.

“Creating a federal ‘no-fly’ list for unruly passengers who are skeptical of this mandate would seemingly equate them to terrorists who seek to actively take the lives of Americans and perpetrate attacks on the homeland,” the senators wrote. “The creation of this list by DOJ would result in a severe restriction on the ability of citizens to fully exercise their constitutional right to engage in interstate transportation.”

HAWAII COUPLE PLANS TO SUE HAWAIIAN AIRLINES AFTER THEIR DOG DIES ON FLIGHT

Nelson, the president of the flight attendants union, said that “the worst attacks have nothing to do with masks.”

“Our union continues to call for the creation of a centralized list of passengers who may not fly for a period of time after being fined or convicted of a serious incident,” she said Tuesday.

Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo in November to crack down on disruptive passengers, directing prosecutors to prioritize federal crimes in the skies.

A 50-year-old man had to be subdued after he allegedly tried to open the plane’s exit door.
(Mouaz Moustafa/@soccermouaz)

During the American Airlines flight on Sunday, a flight attendant bashed a man in the head with a coffee pot after he tried to get into the cockpit and open the plane’s exit door. The flight was diverted to Kansas City as passengers and flight attendants subdued him.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

On Friday, a Portland man tried to open the emergency exit door of a Delta Air Lines plane while in flight.

Last Wednesday, a Frontier Airlines flight was diverted to Raleigh, North Carolina, after a man started threatening other passengers and claiming that people were trying to stick him with needles.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source link

tags

Abkhazia Afghanistan Africa Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curacao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Fiji Finland France French Polynesia Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guam Guatemala Guinea Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Northern Cyprus Norway Oman Pakistan Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Lucia Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Uganda UK Ukraine United Arab Emirates Uruguay USA Uzbekistan Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe