Woman charged with assaulting Southwest flight attendant

A Southwest Airlines flight attendant lost two teeth when she was attacked by a passenger this weekend, and the president of her union calls it part of a disturbing increase in unruly passengers

DALLAS -- San Diego authorities charged a 28-year-old woman with felony battery after an attack on a Southwest Airlines plane in which a flight attendant lost two teeth and suffered other injuries to her face. The incident marked an escalation in unruly behavior by airline passengers and led the president of the flight attendants' union to ask for more federal air marshals on planes. “Unfortunately, this is just one of many occurrences,” said the union president, Lyn Montgomery. She said there were 477 incidents of “misconduct” by passengers on Southwest planes between April 8 and May 15. The incident happened during a flight from Sacramento to San Diego on Sunday morning. San Diego Harbor Police said Tuesday that they arrested Vyvianna Quinonez, and charged her with battery causing serious bodily injury. The Sacramento Bee reported that Quinonez lives in the Sacramento suburb of Antelope.