It seems like every week brings new "unruly passenger" stories. For example, in August alone, Boing Boing posted about four such passengers, including the backpacker who threatened to blow up Malaysia Airlines flight, the passenger out of LAX who popped the emergency slide, and the surly gentleman who attacked a flight attendant with a sharp object on a Delta flight. In fact, the situation has gotten so out of hand, flight attendants outside of Denver International Airport handed out fliers today to spread awareness of the growing problem.
From CBS News:
The flight attendants passed out informational flyers and want to make passengers aware of what a big issue it has become. They say it's not just physical attacks but also verbal ones.
"We are here to make sure that passengers arrive where they're supposed to go safely. We are here to make sure that we are making them comfortable and making sure that our airline is operating at its peak. But we can't do that if we're being assaulted on the aircraft at 30,000 feet," said Corliss King, TWU Local 556 Vice President. "It's a real challenge for us because we can't pull over and say 'This is unacceptable.'
"We hope that people will tap into their common behaviors are that they use on the ground, but unfortunately what happens is that people get on aircrafts and they seem to think that that's a place to behave in a manner that is unacceptable. and we're asking for the public's awareness to these issues and support for us to understand that we really just want to go home the same way we came.
The campaign, called Assault Won't Fly, is sponsored by the Transport Workers Union, who say that commercial airlines deal with five disorderly passengers every day. One of their goals is to get Congress to pass the Protection from Abusive Passengers Act, which would "reauthorize stiff penalties against passengers who assault flight attendants," according to CBS.
