While at least one member of Congress and airline workers’ unions have asked that known mutiny participants be placed on the FBI-managed air exclusion list, which is designed to prevent known and suspected terrorists from obtaining airline tickets, it is unclear whether that measure was caught.
The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.
“We are extremely concerned about the recent politically motivated incidents on board passenger aircraft,” says a statement by APFA President Julie Hedrick. “Regardless of one’s political beliefs, the cabin of a commercial aircraft must, by necessity, be a calm environment for the safety of everyone on board.”
Alaska Airlines said in a statement that it banned 14 passengers on board a flight from Washington to Seattle the day after the turmoil because they refused to wear masks and were “turbulent, argumentative and harassed our crew members”.
Alaska said it has so far banned a total of 302 passengers for violating its mask policy since it took effect on Aug. 7.
Meanwhile, union representatives are asking the FBI to add as many troublemakers as possible to the federal no-fly list and encouraging federal regulators to do more to discourage dangerous or disruptive flight behavior.
“Airlines and law enforcement agencies stepped up security at Washington area airports this week after reports of ‘mafia behavior’ on inbound and outbound flights from the region around Wednesday’s siege of the State Capitol. States, “according to a January 9 statement by the Association of Flight Attendants. “Every airline that has left the region in the past few days has suffered incidents on board. The House of Homeland Security flight attendants, Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), On Thursday urged TSA and the FBI to add ‘perpetrators. riots’ who participated in the Capitol riots for the federal air exclusion list. “
Democratic Congressman Peter DeFazio, chairman of the House Transport Committee, said in a statement on Monday that he is urging the FAA and its administrator, Stephen Dickson, “to limit the chance that the nation’s commercial aviation system could be used as a means of transportation to Washington, DC, for more violence in connection with the inauguration. “
The FAA issued a separate statement, announcing that “undisciplined behavior on an airplane can violate federal law” and could result in imprisonment and fines of up to $ 35,000.
Additional reporting by Gregory Wallace and Pete Muntean.