Amid rise in passengers' bad behavior, flight attendants supporting legislative crackdown

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Flight attendants and other airline workers are calling for harsher penalties on unruly passengers after a sharp rise in violent incidents on planes in recent years.

Some airline workers were out at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday talking to the public about proposed federal legislation they say would help protect them. They were handing out flyers that read "Assault Won't Fly."

"We'd like this legislation to pass because it would give strict penalties to anyone who assaults an airline employee and also create a nationwide banned-passenger list," said flight attendant Thom McDaniel.

The Protection from Abusive Passengers Act has made it from the House to the Senate.

Flight attendants note that assaults and other incidents involving unruly passengers have increased sharply in recent years. From 2020 to 2021 the number of reported incidents jumped from about 1,000 to around 6,000.

They say stricter rules on masks and other COVID protocols led the increase but the numbers this year are still significantly higher than before the pandemic.

"We're the ones that are supposed to be protecting you when we're in flight," said flight attendant Christa Gifford. "And if we are at risk, the passengers should want to know that that could be a possibility on any flight that you get on."