The FAA has referred 80 cases of unruly travelers for possible prosecution in the past year, officials said Wednesday, part of what was a dramatic spike in on-board misbehavior during the pandemic.
There have been 80 incidents between mid-January of last year through Tuesday that have been sent to the FBI for further examination and possible criminal charges, according to a Federal Aviation Administration statement.
Thirty-seven of those referrals came in 2021 and there have been another 43 already this year, officials said.
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The new data comes days after Delta Airlines asked the U.S. Department of Justice to add unruly passengers to the national “no fly” list.
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, company CEO Ed Bastian said “the rate of incidents with unruly passengers on Delta has increased nearly 100 percent since 2019” and such federal action is greatly needed.
The FAA has been seeking to shed more light on cases of unruly behavior as part of its “Zero Tolerance” campaign against on-board offenses.
Both the airlines and unions are seeking increased federal help in combating the trend. And AG Garland in November directed government prosecutors to make federal crimes on commercial airliners a priority.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
