Flight attendant's bloody assault by passenger part of disturbing trend

A Southwest Airlines flight attendant who lost two teeth after she was physically assaulted by a passenger on Sunday is among the more egregious examples of an unsettling increase in unruly and dangerous behavior on the part of air travelers. 

There were 477 passenger misconduct incidents on Southwest flights between April 8 and May 15, including one Sunday morning on a flight landing at San Diego International Airport, according to the carrier's flight attendant union.  "This past weekend, one of our flight attendants was seriously assaulted, resulting in injuries to the face and a loss of two teeth," TWU Local 556 President Lyn Montgomery wrote in a letter to Southwest CEO Gary Kelly.