"Simply inexcusable": Airline industry leaders talk passenger disturbances and assaults in oversight hearing
CBSN
Unruly passengers aren't just a problem in the skies — they're a problem on the ground in airports, where gate agents have experienced what Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, called an "unprecedented increase in assaults from violent passengers."
"Our members have reported being repeatedly punched in the face, kicked, slammed against doors and counters and have even been spit on by passengers," said Nelson in her opening remarks Wednesday in front of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, according to a transcript of the prepared remarks shared with CBS News. Nelson, whose union represents more than 20,000 attendants working for American Airlines and its subsidiaries, appeared with other industry leaders at the hearing, which focused on federal aid to airlines and recent operations disruptions.
2021 has so far seen more than 5,500 incidents of unruly passenger behavior, including nearly 4,000 mask-related incidents, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.