Rep. wants rioters on no-fly list
Airlines see unruly flyers to and from Washington
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a stern warning to the flying public after a riot by supporters of President Donald Trump on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol and incidents on multiple airlines on the way to and from Washington.
“Federal law prohibits you from physically assaulting or threatening to physically assault the crew, and anyone else, on an aircraft,” the FAA said in a tweet over the weekend. “You could be subject to fines of up to $35K and imprisonment for such conduct.”
Alaska Airlines spokesman Ray Lane said a number of passengers on Thursday’s nearly full Flight 1085 from Washington Dulles International were “nonmask-compliant, rowdy, argumentative and harassed our crew members” on the five-hour flight to Seattle. As a result, 14 of them are banned from flying Alaska as long as its pandemic mask policy is in place.
Alaska wasn’t the only airline with issues on flights out of Washington after the riot. Delta Air Lines removed two “unruly” passengers flying from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to Minneapolis on Friday afternoon, spokesman Morgan Durrant told USA TODAY.
Friday, an American Airlines pilot flying from Washington to Phoenix went viral with his threat to “put the plane down in the middle of Kansas and dump people off ” if passengers on board did not behave.
Amanda Head, the woman who posted the video, tweeted that his warning came after several passengers chanted “Fight for Trump” and “USA.”
“Unreal,” one passenger can be heard saying after the pilot’s announcement, and someone asked: “Isn’t this American Airlines?”
“Prior to departure from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the pilot on board flight 1242 made an announcement emphasizing the importance of following crew member instructions and complying with mandatory face-covering policies,” American spokesman Derek Walls said in a statement. No further in-flight problems were reported.
If Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., has his way, Capitol riot participants might face a bigger problem than being removed from a flight or banned by one particular airline.
On Thursday, the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee urged the Transportation Security Administration and the FBI to put participants of the Capitol riot on the federal no-fly list.
“Given the heinous domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol yesterday, I am urging the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to use their authorities to add the names of all identified individuals involved in the attack to the fed
“Alleged perpetrators of a domestic terrorist attack who have been identified by the FBI should be held accountable.” U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson D-Miss., chair of the House Homeland Security Committee
eral no-fly list and keep them off planes,” he said. “This should include all individuals identified as having entered the Capitol building – an intrusion which threatened the safety of Members of Congress and staff and served as an attack on our Nation.”
Thompson continued, “We already saw reports of ‘unruly mobs’ in air on the way to Washington, D.C. It does not take much imagination to envision how they might act out on their way out of D.C. if allowed to fly unfettered. This is an action that TSA and the FBI, by law, are able to take but, to my knowledge, have not yet taken. Alleged perpetrators of a domestic terrorist attack who have been identified by the FBI should be held accountable.”
The FBI decides whom to place on the federal no-fly list, and the TSA enforces it by denying boarding passes to banned people. According to the Department of Homeland Security website, “Individuals on the No Fly List are prevented from boarding an aircraft when flying within, to, from and over the United States.”
“TSA is always on high alert,” TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein told USA TODAY. “We prepare for all contingencies.”
Citing national security reasons, she declined to go into detail on TSA’s plans for handling in-flight and airport incidents relating to the Capitol violence.
“There are always multiple layers of security in place and that travelers may notice additional law enforcement and canine presence, especially when events justify an increased security posture,” she said. “As it relates to the No Fly List, we will accommodate FBI requests and congressional authorizations related to no-fly lists.”
USA TODAY has reached out to the FBI for comment on its plans for handling suspects in the Capitol riots.
In a statement the day of the Capitol attack, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA called for revoking the flight privileges of those involved in the riot as well as in-flight incidents to and from Washington.
“Acts against our democracy, our government and the freedom we claim as Americans must disqualify these individuals from the freedom of flight,” Sara Nelson said. “We in aviation have a serious role to play in national security. Airlines, in coordination with TSA, DHS, FAA, DOT and law enforcement must take all steps to ensure the safety and security of passengers and crew by leaving all problems on the ground.”