The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has asked airports to arrest more people who are unruly or violent on flights. The FAA said it wants airport bars and restaurants to stop selling drinks on the go as well.
It seems the FAA wants to become a nagging spouse, they will monitor how many drinks you’ve taken, and then berating you when you order another cocktail.
On Tuesday, Steve Dickinson, The FAA administrator released a letter to leaders of about 1,000 airports across the US, expressed concerns about serving alcohol to passengers in airport restaurants and bars before flights, in an attempt to prevent passengers from becoming unruly, noncompliant, or straight-up violent after they board a plane, just like the recent incident, one man just appears to be intoxicated and went on a rampage that ended with him being taped to a chair.
Administrator Steve Dickson wrote, “As the number of passengers traveling has increased, so has the number of unruly and unsafe behavior incidents on planes and in airports, very week, we see situations in which law enforcement was asked to meet an aircraft at the gate following an unruly passenger incident. In some cases, flight attendants have reported being physically assaulted.”
He added, “Our investigations show that alcohol often contributes to this unsafe behavior.”
The FAA said this week that it had received 3,715 reports of unruly passengers in 2021, with more than 70 percent of the incidents related to a federal mask requirement on planes.
The association said, A recent national survey of nearly 5,000 flight attendants by the Association of Flight Attendants “found that over 85 percent of all respondents had dealt with unruly passengers as air travel picked up in the first half of 2021. More than half (58%) had experienced at least five incidents this year. A shocking 17 percent reported experiencing a physical incident.”
Association President Sara Nelson said, “This survey confirms what we all know, the vitriol, verbal and physical abuse from a small group of passengers is completely out of control, and is putting other passengers and flight crew at risk. This is not just about masks as some have attempted to claim. There is a lot more going on here and the solutions require a series of actions in coordination across aviation, it is time to make the FAA ‘zero tolerance’ policy permanent, the Department of Justice to utilize existing statute to conduct criminal prosecution, and implement a series of actions proposed by our union to keep problems on the ground and respond effectively in the event of incidents.”
Nelson continued, “This is not a ‘new normal’ we are willing to accept, we know the government, airlines, airports, and all stakeholders can take actions together to keep us safe and flying friendly. We will be sharing survey findings with FAA, DOT, TSA, and FBI to help more fully identify the problems and our union’s proposed actions to affect positive change.”
Sources: Dailywire, Afacwa, Foodandwine, Washingtonpost, Theguardian