In response to the dramatic rise in air rage incidents since the beginning of the year, U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, called on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to act to protect flight crews.
In a letter to the FAA, DeFazio asked the agency not only to suggest what legislation was needed to strengthen the FAA’s statutory authority to appropriately deal with unruly passengers, as well as how else Congress and the FAA could support and protect flight attendants and other flight crew members.
“The violent, disruptive behavior that we’ve seen on airplanes this year must not go unpunished,” DeFazio wrote in his letter. “Recklessly refusing to wear a mask during the deadliest pandemic in a century is dangerous enough, but punching flight attendants, running for the cockpit door, assaulting other passengers, and the litany of other outrageous incidents reported in the press requires a strong federal response, and I want to ensure that the FAA has the legal tools and authorities necessary to put these incidents to a stop.”
In July, the Association of Flight Attendants released the results of a survey of more than 5,000 flight attendants that found that 17 percent of flight attendants reported physical injury during a passenger-related altercation in flight. Of the flight attendants surveyed, 85 percent said they had been involved in at least one unruly passenger incident, and 58 percent said they have been involved in at least five unruly passenger incidents.
In the past few months, incidents included one in May where a passenger allegedly punched a Southwest flight attendant in the face, knocking out two of their teeth. Other reported incidents include a passenger attempting to breach the cockpit and striking an intervening flight attendant in the face; a passenger refusing to wear a mask, then hitting a flight attendant and urinating in the cabin; a passenger attempting to storm the flight deck in midflight; a passenger attempting to open an exit midflight and assaulting and biting the intervening flight attendant; and a passenger sexually assaulting two flight attendants and punching a third.
“I respectfully implore you to take any appropriate action to ensure that airline workers can easily report incidents of air rage and other inappropriate conduct among passengers and that you continue, indefinitely, the FAA’s ‘zero-tolerance’ policy regarding enforcement of the prohibitions on interference with crewmembers and other unruly conduct on board aircraft and to use every tool at your disposal to protect passengers and crew,” DeFazio wrote.
The agency has until Sept. 1, 2021, to provide the committee with the number of additional safety inspectors the FAA needs to handle the enforcement caseload, as well as any suggestions on additional authorities or tools the FAA needs from Congress to make prohibitions on interfering with the duties of a crew member easier to enforce.