New York | To limit assaults on crew members on airplanes, often associated with mask wearing, policy and industry officials in the United States have recommended that disruptive passengers be prosecuted more severely, that alcohol be restricted, or that a national list of travelers banned from flying.
“I have stopped counting the number of times I have been insulted or threatened during a flight simply because I was doing my job,” Teddy Andrews, American Airlines flight attendant, testified at the start of a hearing on Thursday. to Congress on the explosion in the number of cabin incidents since the start of the year.
According to the United States Aviation Agency (FAA), companies have officially reported 4,385 cases since January, 73% of them being related to wearing a mask, mandatory except for eating and drinking.
Passengers shouted, cursed, sometimes hit. During an altercation on a Southwest flight filmed and extensively relayed, a passenger broke three teeth at a hostess.
The frequency of incidents has halved compared to January, but remains twice as high as at the end of 2020, said the FAA, which has tightened the penalties.
For Sara Nelson, president of the crew members union AFA-CWA, we must be more severe and “prosecute” the most serious cases.
As alcohol sometimes worsens the situation, it also recommends new rules limiting the sale of alcohol in airports and in the cabin, in particular take-out cocktails offered by certain bars.
While each company draws up its own list of banned passengers, the names of those affected are not shared.
“Perhaps we could ask the FAA to create a common list,” suggested the chairman of the House of Representatives transport committee, Peter DeFazio.
Christopher Bidwell of Airports Council International, for his part, regretted that “in some cases, airline crew members are reluctant to stay put to file a complaint, even if they have been assaulted.”
“This is certainly an area where there is room for improvement,” acknowledged Ms. Nelson, highlighting the pressure exerted on the crews not to delay subsequent flights.
The FAA has planned several working sessions over the next few weeks with the various players in the sector in order to “identify additional measures” that can be taken to further reduce the number of incidents.
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