United States Senate and House members have proposed a new no-fly list for abusive and unruly passengers as part of the new Protection from Abusive Passengers Act.
The list will include any passenger who engages in behaviour resulting in a civil penalty or conviction for assaulting, threatening, or intimidating a crew member or passenger, according to eTurbo News.
It would be separate from the current no-fly list run by the FBI preventing individuals with suspected terrorism connections from flying.
According to the New York Post, the list will see these passengers banned from flying by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
Currently, airlines can identify and refuse service to passengers who have been involved in an incident, and the new law would allow them and authorities to develop a comprehensive national list of those responsible for the worst abuses.
Travellers placed on the new list will be alerted and given the chance to appeal the decision, but the TSA will have the final say over how long a person is banned.
According to Travel Tomorrow, unruly passenger incidents have increased by 469% from 2019 to 2022, with 831 incidents investigated and reported by the Federal Aviation Administration last year. That represented just a third of the cases reported, as not all were investigated.
