Pilot says unruly passenger behavior is a threat to all flyers, calls for tougher legal action

An American Airlines pilot and union official said Friday that on-board passenger disturbances do not go unnoticed in the cockpit and called for the US government to take further action to deter incidents from happening. “When I hear that one of my flight attendants has been assaulted or another passenger, I’m up there flying the aircraft 35,000 feet near the speed of sound, that’s a distraction,” Dennis Tajer said. “That’s a threat to everybody else on the aircraft. ... We can’t just pull the plane over and say, ‘All right, get out,’” added Tajer, who serves as a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents 15,000 pilots working for American Airlines. Reports of unruly behavior from airplane passengers have soared this year, such as a flyer allegedly assaulting a Southwest Airlines flight attendant in late May. The FAA said June 22 it has received about 3,100 reports of unruly behavior since Jan. 1, with 2,350 reports of passengers refusing to obey the federal Covid mask mandate. The policy is in place until Sept. 14, and the FAA plans to enforce its zero-tolerance policy for passenger disturbances as long as the mandate remains. This year alone, the FAA has proposed more than $560,000 in overall fines against airline passengers who refused flight attendants’ directions to comply with cabin crew and federal regulations. Passengers have 30 days to contest the fines.<br/>