California woman pleads guilty to punching flight attendant in the face

A 28-year-old California woman pleaded guilty on Wednesday to repeatedly punching a flight attendant in May, bloodying her face and chipping three teeth, federal prosecutors said, part of a surge in violent behavior by airline passengers in the past year. The woman, Vyvianna M. Quinonez of Sacramento, Calif., was charged with interference with flight crew members and attendants, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said in a statement on Wednesday. She faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The assault unfolded toward the end of a Southwest flight from Sacramento to San Diego, prosecutors said. The flight attendant, who was not identified, had asked Quinonez to buckle her seatbelt, put up her tray table and “wear her facemask properly,” the statement said. Quinonez started filming the flight attendant on her phone and pushed the woman, prosecutors said. The attack escalated from there, as captured on video by another passenger. Quinonez, who was sitting in an aisle seat, stood up and punched the flight attendant in the face multiple times, according to the video. She also grabbed the flight attendant’s hair before the woman was able to move back up the aisle. Several passengers grabbed at Quinonez’s clothes to try to stop her, prosecutors said. A man then “jumped in between” Quinonez and the flight attendant, prosecutors said. “Hey, you better sit down,” he said in the video, using an expletive. Story has full details.<br/>