US: Sec. Buttigieg: A federal no-fly list 'should be on the table' for violent passengers

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday that a federal no-fly list for violent airplane passengers "should be on the table" after an American Airlines flight attendant was hospitalized with several broken bones in her face following an attack from a passenger last week. The FAA reported more than 4,600 incidents of unruly passengers so far this year, as flight crews have had to handle hostile passengers at unprecedented rates amid a travel rebound to pre-pandemic levels. "It is completely unacceptable to mistreat, abuse or even disrespect flight crews," Buttigieg said, adding, "We will continue to look at all options to make sure that flight crews and passengers are safe." "There is absolutely no excuse for this kind of treatment of flight crews in the air or any of the essential workers -- from bus drivers to air crews who get people to where they need to be," he said. The FAA announced earlier this year a new "zero tolerance" policy after seeing a spike in passengers disrupting flights with threatening or violent behavior, and so far has proposed more than $1 million in fines, CNN has previously reported. Enforcing mask mandates and dealing with drunk passengers are ranked among the top causes for such confrontations. <br/>