Delta Airlines has officially called for a nationwide “no-fly” list for passengers who display unruly or unlawful behavior while on board.
There have always been troublesome passengers on flights. However, the pandemic caused an extreme uptick in bad mid-flight behavior.
Now, Delta is pushing for other airlines to share their “no-fly” roster with other airlines to ensure that unruly travelers cannot merely take their misbehavior from one carrier to another, reported CNBC.
Kristen Manion Taylor, Delta’s senior vice president of in-flight service, wrote to the company’s flight attendants last Wednesday and explained the reasoning behind the carrier’s push.
“A list of banned customers doesn’t work as well if that customer can fly with another airline,” she said. This is a move that she said will protect airline employees across the industry.
Delta alone has about 1,600 passengers on its list of banned travelers.
The push for a nationwide registry of sorts is not new. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA has previously called for a centralized database of banned airline passengers. The organization has a membership of 50,000 crew employees across a dozen airlines.
According to a report, an estimated 85 percent of flight attendants have had to deal with unruly passengers in 2021 so far. Twenty percent of those incidents involved physical violence.
“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. There is a lot more going on here, and the solutions require a series of actions in coordination across aviation,” Sara Nelson, President of AFA-CWA, said.
Along with mask mandates, crew members attribute poor traveler behavior to the enforcement of general safety measures, cancellations and delays, and alcohol consumption.
After Delta suggested the national roster, Rep. Peter DeFazio, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, expressed the belief that airport restaurants should do more to prevent passengers from boarding with to-go cups of alcohol.
Causing a stir on an aircraft is a federal offense punishable by incarceration and a fine.
