The rule for unruly passengers? One strike and you’re off the plane permanently

A passenger uses a racial slur to berate an African-American flight attendant over wearing a mask. Another on a separate flight pummels a flight attendant’s face, knocking out two teeth. And on a third flight, a passenger lies on the floor, grabs a flight attendant by the ankles and pushes his head under her skirt.

All three cases are among more than 5,000 since January in what has become the worst year of unruly passenger behavior in the history of air travel.

In response, the Federal Aviation Administration has issued a zero-tolerance policy, levying more than $1 million in fines (although procedural challenges allowed under the law can slow collections to a crawl) and put out some shaming public service announcements. Criminal complaints have been brought in a few hundred cases. And President Biden has pleaded for passengers to “show some respect.”

But there’s one other step the federal government can take, and soon. Each of these people should be banned for life from flying on a commercial aircraft.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said a few weeks ago that a federal no-fly list of unruly passengers “should be on the table.”

Indeed, it needs to be put into practice.

The conduct of these passengers is intolerable, and flight attendants are pleading with airlines, airports and the federal government to do more about it.

Flying is a privilege, not a right, and the nation knows all too well what can unfold when passengers act out or worse at 30,000 feet. In some instances, others on board have bravely helped restrain the unruly.

But there needs to be a clear message that if alcohol or simply being an angry person drives someone to abusive or violent behavior during a flight, they automatically forfeit the prerogative to fly commercially.

Individual airlines compile their own no-fly lists for disruptive passengers. But they keep them secret and sadly decline to pool them. So anyone barred from flying one carrier can simply shop a seat on another. A federal no-fly list would solve the problem.

The FAA says that in many of these cases, disruptive passengers are drunk. Federal regulation prohibits the consumption of alcohol not purchased on an aircraft during the flight. Some airlines have started curtailing the sale of it on planes. But the FAA has complained that airport concessionaires sell alcohol-to-go and passengers simply carry their drinks on board.

Airport jurisdictions could demonstrate responsibility in preventing this practice by concessionaires.

The rate of this disruptive behavior sky-rocketed when mask mandates for flights went into effect early this year, and has gradually declined since. If not extended, the mask mandate for flights is set to expire in January, and that could further reduce these cases.

In the meantime, the nation faces a busy travel season during the upcoming holidays. If the federal government really intends a zero-tolerance policy for unruly passengers, it needs to implement it fully.

Any passenger who disrupts a flight can no longer fly. yahoo.com