Delta airlines asks Department of Justice to set up national no-fly list of unruly passengers

Thursday, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a letter to Department of Justice Attorney General Merrick Garland that there should be “zero tolerance” for behavior that affects flight safety.

Overall, incidents of bad behavior represent only a small fraction of all incidents on Delta flights. However, the rate of incidents has increased nearly 100% since 2019.

According to US News, Delta and Airlines for America have both been pushing for heightened reporting, investigation, and prosecution of those interfering with flight safety since last year.

Bastian wrote in the letter, “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.”

Delta has put nearly 1900 people on their “no fly” list for refusing to comply with masking requirements. Additionally, they have submitted over 900 banned names to the Transportation SEcurity Administration to pursue civil penalties.

The Federal Aviation Administration has cited 4.9 reported behavior incidents for every 10,000 flights the week of January 23rd. TSA announced in December that they would be working with the FAA to call for these passengers to face additional consequences for their bad behavior.

The FAA recorded 5,981 cases of bad behavior from passengers for the year of 2021 (CNBC). Seventy-two percent of cases were related to masking. So far this year the FAA has seen 323 reports of unruly passengers.