“DFW International Airport is on pace for a record number of arrests for ‘interference with a flight crew,’ part of a nationwide trend of unruly passengers putting flight attendants on edge and sending federal regulators scrambling.” dallasnews.com/business/airli…
“Alan Black, the airport’s director of public safety, told an FAA panel Wednesday that the airport’s police department saw a 300% increase in arrests for the ‘interference with a flight crew’ charge between 2018 and 2019.
“The spike fell in 2020, but only because airport traffic dropped 60% during the COVID-19 pandemic. Flight attendants and FAA officials have said unruly behavior has most often followed passengers refusing to wear masks.
“ ‘I can tell you that while we’ve seen passenger volumes sharply decrease year over year ... our business actually increased — unfortunately, the bad behavior,’ Black told leaders of the Federal Aviation Administration.
“ ‘We have many less passengers but many more offenses in that genre.’ ”
“The news comes the same week that a flight attendant for Dallas-based Southwest was assaulted, bloodied and lost two teeth during an incident with a passenger while a plane landed Sunday morning at San Diego International Airport.
“The union for Southwest’s flight attendants, TWU Local 556, is pleading with the company for help, potentially by banning more passengers.
“The FAA has been aggressive in charging and fining passengers for misbehavior. Just last week, the regulatory agency announced a $52,500 fine issued to a passenger on a Delta flight from Honolulu to Seattle.”
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