Department of Transportation will ‘take a look’ at no-fly list for unruly passengers, Buttigieg says

Assaulting a crew member on a commercial airline is currently punishable by up to two decades in prison and a quarter-million-dollar fine

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Monday said the federal government is considering starting a “no-fly” list for unruly passengers who’ve been banned by individual airlines.

“I think we need to take a look at it,” Mr Buttigieg said during an interview with CNN.

He added that airlines are often “doing their own internal no-fly list” and are considering sharing information on passengers they’ve banned.

“We’re looking at these policy recommendations as well – not that we are waiting for that in order to take action,” he said.

Mr Buttigieg’s announcement came after Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian sent US Attorney General Merrick Garland a letter asking him to take “the much-needed step of putting any person convicted of an on-board disruption on a national, comprehensive, unruly passenger ‘no-fly list’” that would “bar that person from traveling on any commercial air carrier”.

Mr Bastian’s airline has banned nearly 2,000 people for failing to obey crewmember instructions regarding the Department of Transportation’s mandatory masking policy, and asked the Transportation Security Administration to seek civil penalties against 900 of them.

In November, Mr Garland issued a directive to federal prosecutors which ordered them to seek indictments against unruly air passengers who commit violent acts against aircrew members.

“Passengers who assault, intimidate or threaten violence against flight crews and flight attendants do more than harm those employees; they prevent the performance of critical duties that help ensure safe air travel,” Mr Garland said. “Similarly, when passengers commit violent acts against other passengers in the close confines of a commercial aircraft, the conduct endangers everyone aboard.”

Federal law already bans “assaults, intimidation and threats of violence that interfere with flight crews and flight attendants”. Assaulting a crew member on a commercial airline is currently punishable by up to two decades in prison and a quarter-million-dollar fine.