'It's a pressure cooker': Senate takes up no-fly bill for unruly plane passengers
Reports of air rage exploded in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with 72% of outbursts involving mask requirements on planes.
That mandate ended in April 2022, but complaints about unruly passengers remain at historic highs.
That's prompted federal lawmakers including Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin to introduce the Protection From Abusive Passengers Act. It would require the U.S. Transportation Security Administration to create a no-fly list that bans travelers convicted of violence or intimidation on flights.
Similar legislation was floated in 2022 and went nowhere. But dangerous occurrences such as a March 5 case in which a United Airlines passenger is alleged to have tried to open an emergency exit door and stabbed a flight attendant with a broken metal spoon could provide traction, experts think.
Multiple aviation-related unions support the bill, including the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American Airlines pilots.
"When I as captain get a call from the back that there's a disruptive passenger ... who has assaulted a fight attendant or a passenger, my attention is taken away from the delicate balance of flying that aircraft," said APA spokesman Dennis Tajer, an Arlington Heights pilot.
"It's very serious - you're not just threatening the passengers that are immediately around you, you're threatening an aircraft," he said.
From 2010 to 2019, the Federal Aviation Administration investigated an average of 136.5 unruly passenger reports a year. Then COVID-19 hit. That number rocketed up to 1,099 in 2021 and remained high at 821 in 2022.
This year, passenger disruptions have fluctuated, spiking the week ending Jan. 8 to 2.2 per 10,000 flights. That was a period marked by storms and a Southwest Airlines computer meltdown that caused thousands of cancellations.
The number dipped to 1.1 in mid-February but rose to 2.3 in early March, when, federal prosecutors allege, Francisco Severo Torres, 33, attacked a flight attendant and was restrained by passengers on a United flight from Los Angeles to Boston.
He was charged with one count of interference and attempted interference with flight crew members and attendants using a dangerous weapon. A judge has ordered a mental health examination, The Associated Press reported.
"When the mask mandate was lifted, everyone thought things would go back to normal," said Susan Wroble of Wheaton, a negotiator with the Association of Professional Flight Attendants.
"But just when you think things are calming down, something like that happens again. Thank God the flight attendants have passengers who are helping them. I think passengers are more aware as well and don't want to stand for that unruly behavior."
Airlines' reports of passenger aggression reached an average of 498 a month in 2021, decreased to 205 in 2022 and stand at 150 a month in 2023, which is still too many, advocates said.
Tajer thinks that "what we're seeing now is airlines packing on more people than ever, tighter seating arrangements, airports packed. It's a pressure cooker."
Wroble noted: "it's a different world. I've been flying for 37 years, and it's not what I signed up for."
The legislation seeks to bar people convicted of assaulting airplane crews or airport security workers and posing an imminent threat to a flight in progress. The length of the flight ban would be determined by the TSA.
Flight attendants feel "there's just a blatant disregard for us being safety professionals on an airplane," Wroble said. "If it passes, flight attendants will feel better about their work and keeping the plane and passengers safe - knowing that if you break the law there will be a serious consequence."
Gridlock alert
Northbound I-290 drivers should expect delays on the exit ramp to Biesterfield Road in Elk Grove Village. IDOT crews are widening the ramp.
Upcoming
Cyclists, walkers and anyone else who moves can cut a rug April 26 at the Active Transportation Alliance's Movers and Shakers Ball. For details, go to activetrans.org/ball.