Free Republic

With stories about breaking up fights, hiding behind carts and having had luggage thrown at them, flight crews appealed to travelers at Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday for sanity in the skies and support for a law that would ground the most violent passengers. Union flight attendants were handing out red cards to travelers entering Terminal A, asking them to support the Transport Workers Union “Assault Won’t Fly” campaign and legislation that would ban passengers who have been convicted of assaulting flight crews or security officers. But it’s the stories behind the cards that crew members told that are...

The number of “unruly passenger incidents” onboard flights rose in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing by nearly 40 percent year-on-year in 2022, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). In a report published on June 4, IATA said that the latest data show there was approximately one “unruly incident” reported for every 568 flights in 2022, up from one in every 835 flights reported in 2021. The data was collated from over 20,000 reports submitted by around 40 airlines. According to the latest figures, the most common incidents registered in 2022 were for verbal abuse, intoxication, or...

A Massachusetts man is facing charges after he allegedly tried to open an emergency exit door while aboard a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Boston and then allegedly attempted to stab a flight attendant in the neck... Francisco Severo Torres, 33, was charged with one count of interference and attempted interference with flight crew members and attendants using a dangerous weapon following the incident, which took place on Sunday. According to court documents, about 45 minutes before United flight 2609 landed in Boston, the flight crew received an alarm in the cockpit that a starboard side door located...

A crazed Southwest Airlines passenger who tried to open the aircraft's door mid-flight before biting another passenger in the thigh claimed 'Jesus told her to do it'. Southwest Flight 192 was going from Houston to Columbus on Saturday when it was forced to make an emergency landing at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, Arkansas. Elom Agbegninou, 34, became frustrated that flight attendants prevented her from getting to the emergency exit, a complaint in an Arkansas district court revealed. When an other passenger intervened, Agbegninou bit them on the thigh and refused to disengage until her jaw...

President Joe Biden’s coronavirus advisory team said mask mandates would remain in place despite revised guidance from the Centers for Disease Control loosening requirements and Biden’s own words Tuesday night in his SOTU address. “Just a few days ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a new mask guidelines,” he said. “Under the new guidelines, most Americans in most of the country can now go mask free.”

DALLAS—Southwest Airlines has announced a new and exciting boarding procedure where passengers are given a deadly melee weapon and encouraged to sort it out themselves instead of bothering the flight crew. "We are thrilled to introduce this fun new way to board a plane," said a spokesperson for the airline. "Passengers will be offered a class of weapon based on their boarding group. 'A’ gets bladed weapons like daggers and axes, ‘B’ gets long-reach weapons like bo-staffs and baseball bats, and group ‘C’ gets whatever is leftover—like brass knuckles or nunchucks, maybe a sharpened toothbrush if they’re lucky. EarlyBird flyers...

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- A flight from New York to California was diverted after a passenger physically assaulted a flight attendant on Wednesday. According to American Airlines, Flight 976 from JFK International Airport to John Wayne Airport in southern California, made an emergency landing in Denver after a passenger physically assaulted the flight attendant....It's unclear what led up to the assault.

A Frontier flight from Philadelphia to Miami ended in a brawl when witnesses said one passenger attacked another, apparently angry at how long the passenger ahead of him was taking to gather his bags. The fight broke out after the plane landed in Miami about 9:30 Sunday evening, according to reports on Fox and ABC stations. Another passenger told WPLG-TV that a white man threw the first punch at a Black passenger and used a racial slur. Other people, apparently related to the two men, also got involved, pushing, punching and pulling hair. “You can see the white man on...

An air-rage passenger has been jailed after drunkenly abusing cabin crew on a flight from Dubai to Birmingham Airport - and biting a police officer when they tried to arrest him. Jasbir Singh Bharaj, 46, was labelled by one flight attendant as the “worst passenger he had ever encountered” after he went on the rampage. He was sentenced to a total of 11 months at Birmingham Crown Court for his actions aboard the Emirates plane on September 16 last year. The court heard Bharaj, of Downing Drive, Leicester, had threatened to punch an air hostess in the face and caused...

Air rage and emergency exits: Two stormy weeks in Chinese aviation By Maggie Hiufu Wong, CNN December 19, 2014 -- Updated 0956 GMT (1756 HKT) (CNN) -- Deja vu? Yesterday's news? Nope, it's just another series of air dramas involving disruptive Chinese air travelers. It hasn't been the most peaceful fortnight in the aviation industry -- we've seen the aftermath of a Korean Air exec's "nut rage" and R&B singer Jeremih arrested for attempting to force open a closed airplane door after missing the last call for boarding. In the midst of this unruly behavior have come no fewer than...

An internal memo from JetBlue’s chief operating officer to the airline’s staff and board of directors explicitly rebukes the actions taken by flight attendant Steven Slater as “unacceptable.” The document, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, offers the first timeline of events following Monday’s now-famous airplane exit by Slater, in which the apparently enraged flight attendant uttered expletives over the public address system, deployed the emergency chute and slid down to the tarmac with two beers in hand. But the memo also reveals that even at the highest levels of JetBlue, officials are still trying to determine what...

More details are emerging today of the in-flight row that led to air steward Steven Slater exiting the plane via the emergency escape slide. And police have revealed details of the 39-year-old's arrest, when officers interrupted him at his home in bed with his boyfriend. Slater's lawyer, Howard Turman, revealed that Slater and an as-yet unnamed female passenger were on a collision course from the moment they set eyes on each other. Mr Turman said today that his client had been antagonised by the female passenger from the outset of the flight. It all began before JetBlue Flight 1052 even...

One of Palm Beach's most famous residents was forced off a flight Saturday afternoon after the Palm Beach County Sheriff's office says she became belligerent and aggrevated towards other passengers, including children. Ivana Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump, was on Delta flight 2377 headed to New York when law enforcement says they had to physically remove her from the flight. According to the Sheriff's Department, the pilot told them he got a call of a disturbance in first class after the plane pushed back from the gate at Palm Beach International and was headed towards the runway. The pilot...

BANGOR, Maine – A British woman has pleaded guilty in Maine to assault after being accused of downing prescription drugs, wine and lavatory soap, then scuffling with flight attendants. Galina Rusanova pleaded guilty Thursday to three counts in U.S. District Court in Bangor. The Bangor Daily News says she was sentenced to the 21 days she had already spent in jail. A charge of interference with a flight crew was dropped. Prosecutors say the 54-year-old woman punched and kicked attendants on a United Airlines flight April 29. They say she tried to bite one while snapping "like a dog."

A respected Russian artist was arrested after mixing wine and prescription drugs before allegedly drinking liquid soap and attacking flight attendants on a trans-Atlantic flight. British-based Galina Rusanova is accused of of punching and kicking flight attendants and - at one point - 'snapping like a dog' while trying to bite a crew member's leg.

LONDON (AFP) - Supermodel Naomi Campbell has been charged with a string of offences after allegedly assaulting a police officer at London's Heathrow airport, her lawyer said Thursday. Campbell, 37, was taken off a British Airways plane by officers on April 3 after she boarded a flight to Los Angeles in the United States and was told before takeoff that one of her bags was missing. She is charged with five offences -- three counts of assaulting a constable, one of disorderly conduct likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress and one of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A US Airways passenger faced charges of interfering with a flight crew Thursday after he apparently unknowingly slapped an undercover federal air marshal, said an official familiar with the case. The man, who'd been drinking liquor, threw a mid-air temper tantrum Wednesday night after attendants refused to serve him any more alcohol during his flight from Washington's Reagan National Airport to Fort Myers, Florida, the official said. The passenger then slapped a fellow passenger, who happened to be an undercover air marshal assigned to the flight, said the official.

Fourteen angry economy class passengers, who had stormed the first class cabin while a Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 747 was in mid-flight, were arrested when the aircraft landed yesterday at Manchester airport, it was disclosed today. The pilot of the jet radioed ahead that he was having to cope with a “mutiny” on board, with the result police were waiting on the tarmac as the plane landed. A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “Police at Manchester Airport were alerted to a problem on an incoming PIA flight from Pakistan. Several passengers were reported to be trying to enter the...

MIAMI - Former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model May Andersen was arrested after allegedly becoming unruly and striking a flight attendant on a plane from Amsterdam to Miami, police said. Andersen, 23, from Denmark continued being loud and violent after officers met Martinair Flight 643 on the ground Thursday, Miami-Dade Airport Police said. She was examined for alcohol and substance abuse at Jackson Memorial Hospital and later transported to the Miami-Dade County Jail. She has a hold for immigration, which means no bail has been set. She cannot be released until immigration lifts it, said Janelle Hall, a corrections spokeswoman.

Stop The Plane And Kick Her Off Sat, 14 Jan '06 Math Prof Wigs Out On United Flight How would you react if a woman started screaming that "she had a baby named Jesus, she was impregnated by her uncle and President Bush was behind it all"? And then started to strip and throw things at other people? If we mentioned that this happened on an airplane in flight. would that make your decision any easier? For the captain of United Airlines Flight 6664 from Eugene, OR to Denver, who had the bizarrely misbehaving woman as a passenger, the answer...