When one of your passengers gets kicked off a flight or duct-taped to their chair, perhaps after refusing to wear a mask or punching a flight attendant, do you tell anyone? Delta wants airlines to share their lists and admitted it has 1,600 people on its incidental no-fly list. But others aren't so eager to admit the scale of the problem.
Airlines' banned passenger lists are separate from the federal no-fly list, which is managed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Terrorist Screening Center.
American Airlines and Southwest Airlines aren't currently selling alcohol on board due to concerns about how drinking could fuel bad behavior.
Southwest's incoming CEO, Bob Jordan, told CNBC on Thursday that he didn't expect alcohol sales to return until the federal mask mandate for air travel is lifted, a step that is currently scheduled for Jan. 19.
Rep. Peter DeFazio, (D-Ore.) chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, on Thursday said airport restaurants should help stop passengers from bringing alcohol on board with to-go cups.
It's funny how each source has its own magical thinking about why people misbehave on flights, as if we invented alcohol and started drinking last April.
This also smells like a classic battle between lawyers and PR, playing out differently at different airlines. Lawyers usually win, even when they're running the company off a cliff, because of the sunk cost fallacy. The hill you buy is the hill you die on. But constant groin-kneeing by other priorities can be overwhelming. Delta's 1600-strong list suggests multiple daily incidents serious enough to warrant arrests, deplanements and detours. That's a lot of duct tape!
