Year of Attacks on Flight Crews Prompts Renewed Calls for 'No Fly' List

Chicago, IL (WorkersCompensation.com) – While 2022 wasn’t as bad for flight attendants and other airline personnel, continuing attacks by unruly passengers have led to renewed calls for a “no fly” list for violent offenders.  

So far this year, more than 2,300 “unruly passenger” incidents have been reported to the Federal Aviation Administration. Of those 823 were so severe they triggered investigations. It makes 2022 the second most violent year for air travel since the mid-1990s when the FAA started tracking incidents. Last year, airlines reported nearly 6,000 incidents, with nearly 1,100 of them prompting investigations.  

Many thought that the incidents would end when the mask mandate for airplane travel was lifted in April. While the numbers of incidents did drop, they didn’t stop. In fact, a number of episodes in November underscores the continued threat to airline employees.  

In Chicago, police met United Airlines Flight 476 from San Francisco at the gate due to an altercation between a passenger and multiple flight attendants.  

According to Chicago Police, and video from several of the flight’s passengers, a female passenger holding a child refused to sit down when the flight began its descent. Multiple flight attendants directed the woman to sit down and fasten her seatbelt, but the woman refused, at one point telling flight attendants she would kill them.  

Upon landing, police entered the plane and arrested the woman. Three people were taken to the hospital following the incident, one of whom was a flight attendant.  

On Nov. 12, a Frontier Airlines flight from Cincinnati to Tampa was diverted to Atlanta for an emergency landing when a male passenger with a box cutter threatened other passengers and members of the flight crew. No injuries were reported, but police did find a second box cutter in the man’s carry on baggage.  

And on Nov. 26, a Southwest Airlines flight from Houston to Columbus, Ohio was forced to make an emergency landing in Arkansas when an unruly passenger bit a passenger on the thigh and tried to open an exit door midair.  

According to federal court documents, the passenger, Elom Agbegninou, bit the right thigh of a passenger who tried to restrain her after she attempted to force her way to an exit door at the rear of the plane.  

The wounded passenger said that Elom Agbegninou told him, “Jesus told her to fly to Ohio and Jesus told her to open the plane door.”  

These incidents come after a year of attacks on flight attendants and flight crew.  

In May 2022, Vyvianna Quinonez, 29, was found guilty of assaulting a flight attendant after an incident that occurred in May 2021. Video of the incident showed that a flight attendant on a Southwest Airlines flight from Sacrament to San Diego asked Quinonez to wear her mask properly. Quinonez refused and initiated a fight with the flight attendant.  

Quionez ultimately hit the flight attendant in the face several times, as well as grabber her hair, leaving her with a swollen eye, a bruised arm and a cut under her eye that had to be stitched and three chipped teeth, two of which had to be replaced.  

Southwest Airlines said Quinonez has been placed on the airline’s “no fly” list.  

While each airline has started its own “no fly” list for violent passengers, there is no federal database of unruly passengers, something Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian has called for since 2021. Bastian has said that the federal government should create a federal “no fly” list of violent passengers to join the list of known or suspected terrorists not allowed to fly in the United States.  

While airlines in the U.S. currently have the power to ban passengers because of unruly behavior – regardless of conviction – those lists are not shared amongst the airlines. Delta’s list has added nearly 2,000 people since the beginning of the pandemic.  

Instead, the FAA and the Transportation Security Administration have tried to stop the violence through fines and penalties. Unruly passengers can be fined up to $37,000, and this year alone, the FAA has issued more than $8 million in unruly passenger fines. The TSA is also revoking PreCheck privileges for any passenger who has been fined for unruly behavior.  

But many say that isn’t enough.  

In April 2022, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., joined U.S. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., in introducing bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would hold unruly passengers accountable for assaulting an airline crew member or attendant. 

The legislation, the Protection from Abusive Passengers Act, would stiffen penalties against those convicted of assaulting flight crew members on an aircraft and place them on a commercial no-fly list. 

“Protecting airlines employees and passengers from unthinkable violence and danger is paramount to ensuring the safety of the American public in the skies,” Fitzpatrick said at the time. “No one should have to face threats, physical abuse, or any form of harassment in the workplace, including airline employees. Our bipartisan legislation would create a system-wide no-fly list for abusive passengers and prevent these offenders from harming aviation workers on all airlines, minimizing potential disruptions and keeping air travel safe for passengers and employees.” 

The Senate version of the bill was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

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