(CNN) — Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian sent a letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday reiterating his call for the Justice Department to prosecute unruly passengers and place them on a "no-fly" list.
"In addition to the welcome increase in enforcement and prosecutions, we are requesting you support our efforts with respect to the much-needed step of putting any person convicted of an on-board disruption on a national, comprehensive, unruly passenger "no-fly" list that would bar that person from traveling on any commercial air carrier," Bastian wrote to Garland, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by CNN
"This action will help prevent future incidents and serve as a strong symbol of the consequences of not complying with crew member instructions on commercial aircraft," Bastian said in the letter.
The letter was first reported by Reuters.
Bastian first called for a no-fly list in September in a memo to employees first reported by CNN.
President Joe Biden said in October that he has instructed the Justice Department to address rising violence on airplanes as some passengers resistant to mask requirements have threatened airline staff.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in late October that a federal no-fly list for violent airplane passengers "should be on the table." The existing federal no-fly list is used to prevent terrorism.
"It is completely unacceptable to mistreat, abuse or even disrespect flight crews," Buttigieg told CNN's Dana Bash.
Delta kicked two unruly passengers off Flight 1582 from Fort Lauderdale to Atlanta on Tuesday.
"Delta has zero tolerance for unruly behavior at our airports and on our flights as nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and flight crews," the airline said in a statement related to the incident.
Related content FAA numbers confirm it -- 2021 was terrible for bad behavior in the skies
2021 was a very bad year for bad behavior
Last year was the worst on record for unruly airplane passenger behavior in the United States, according to Federal Aviation Administration data.
A whopping 5,981 reports of unruly passengers were logged by the FAA as of December 31. Of those, 4,290 -- nearly 72% - were mask-related incidents.
It's been a little more than a year since the FAA announced a "zero tolerance" policy for unruly passenger behavior that skips warnings or counseling and goes directly to penalties, which can include heavy fines and jail time.
The policy, spurred by incidents tied to masks and violence at the US Capitol, was originally set to expire at the end of March 2021. It was extended at least until the federal mask mandate is lifted.
As of February 1, there have been 323 reports of unruly passenger behavior so far this year, according to FAA tracking. Of those, 205 were mask-related incidents. Seventy-three investigations have been initiated, with 26 enforcement action cases initiated so far this year.
Ryanlynn2004 on February 5th, 2022 at 22:59 UTC »
While I agree, these Airlines are private companies. Why not just ban these people from their airlines and let other airlines know?
SchrodingerCattz on February 5th, 2022 at 21:53 UTC »
What's to stop the airlines from creating a non-profit corporation that manages an inter-airline no-fly list?
The_Drizzle_Returns on February 5th, 2022 at 21:00 UTC »
The reason Delta is asking for this is liability protection for when they put someone on there by accident and they can no longer fly in the US.
Major carriers in the US could share problematic passenger data today but do not do so because if they are sued (and found to have wrongly shared this persons information) it would open them up to liability. Casinos have similar systems for known card counters for example, Airlines just dont want to pay the money to set it up themselves and don't want the liability when they fuck up and add a 4 year old to the no fly list.
IMO the only thing the government should do is state they can setup such a shared list legally but they are fully liable for it.