Ed Bastian, Delta Air Lines CEO, believes creating an unruly passenger no-fly list among all carriers could prevent future incidents and create a precedent of the consequences of not complying with onboard rules. The airline is advocating to place disruptive passengers on a national ban. Let’s investigate further.

An unruly passenger no-fly list

Since 2020 there has been a worrying increase in the number of unruly passengers in the United States. Most reported cases are related to travelers unwilling to follow onboard facemasks rules, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

A few airlines executive have been calling for an unruly passenger no-fly list. In a previously unreported letter, Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, said to US Attorney General Merrick Garland that creating such a list could,

“Help prevent future incidents and serve as a strong symbol of the consequences of not complying with crew member instructions on commercial aircraft.”

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This is not the first time Delta has advocated for all airlines to work together against unruly passengers. In a memo to employees last year, Delta stated that it had banned more than 1,600 people from flying with the company. This number has now increased to 1,900. Additionally, it has submitted more than 900 banned names to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to pursue civil penalties.

The most recent event happened earlier this week. Two unruly passengers were ejected from a Delta flight on Tuesday at a Florida airport. One of the two travelers onboard was cursing at flight attendants, which led to a 28-minute delay.

The airline argued that independent no-fly lists of unruly passengers are not enough; therefore, Delta asked other carriers to share their ‘no-fly’ lists to further protect airline employees in the United States.

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There has been an increase of unruly passengers in the United States in the last 13 months. Photo: Getty Images

There is already a no-fly list

For everyone’s safety, federal regulations require that customers follow all crew member instructions and prohibit interference with crew duties. Such actions are strictly prohibited and may result in civil or criminal penalties for interfering, assaulting, or intimidating crew members or any other individuals, says Delta on its website.

In the letter sent to Garland, Delta noted there is currently a no-fly list, as reported by Reuters. This list comes from the terrorism watch list, which allows the US Government to prohibit persons considered a threat to civil aviation from traveling on airlines.

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Delta wants additional measures in place. Photo: Getty Images

Unruly passengers in 2021 and 2022

In the last 13 months, there has been a worrying spike in the number of unruly passengers in the US. The increase can be traced to the Government and industry’s decision to enforce the use of masks onboard as a way to prevent the rise of COVID-19 cases throughout the country.

In 2021, the FAA had 5,981 unruly passengers reports. The unruly passenger rate was 6.9 incidents per 10,000 flights. According to the FAA, 72% of all the reports were mask-related incidents. The FAA initiated 1,099 investigations and 350 enforcement actions.

This year, there have been 323 reports of unruly passengers in the United States, 205 related to facemasks. The FAA has launched 73 investigations and 26 enforcement action cases.

As part of the FAA’s Reauthorization bill, FAA can propose up to US$37,000 per violation for unruly passenger cases, up from US$25,000 in the past.

Do you think a national ‘no-fly’ list would help reduce the number of unruly passengers in the US? Let us know in the comments below.