Southwest flight attendant loses two teeth in onboard assault

A flight attendant allegedly lost two of her teeth while being physically assaulted by a passenger on a flight at the weekend.

The incident occurred onboard Southwest flight 700 from Sacramento to San Diego, California, on 23 May.

“The passenger repeatedly ignored standard inflight instructions and became verbally and physically abusive upon landing,” a Southwest spokesperson told USA Today.

“Law enforcement officials were requested to meet the flight upon arrival, and the passenger was taken into custody.

“We do not condone or tolerate verbal or physical abuse of our flight crews, who are responsible for the safety of our passengers.”

Further details of the unnamed crew member’s injuries were shared by a flight attendants’ union, which penned a letter to the airline’s CEO following the attack.

“This past weekend, one of our flight attendants was seriously assaulted, resulting in injuries to the face and a loss of two teeth,” wrote Lyn Montgomery, president of TWU Local 556.

“Unfortunately, this is just one of many occurrences. I write to you today because we cannot tolerate our beloved cohearts being abused in such a manner, and because I am asking for your help and leadership in ending these travesties.”

She shared that 477 passenger misconduct incidents had been reported between 8 April and 15 May on Southwest flights.

“This unprecedented number of incidents has reached an intolerable level, with passenger non-compliance events also becoming more aggressive in nature,” she added.

The union is calling for Southwest to introduce better safeguarding practices for staff, including ensuring passengers are informed that unruly or non-compliant behaviour could result in fines, criminal charges, imprisonment and/or being put on the airline’s no-fly list.

It has also demanded that the carrier is more consistent in its policies – for example, not letting a passenger removed for misconduct immediately board the next available flight – and that the US government’s Federal Air Marshals have a stronger presence across all flights.

“Today’s travelling environment requires a new level of firmness in both tone and direction to ensure proper control in the cabin of our aircraft as the attitudes and behaviours of the flying public have, unfortunately, declined,” added Montgomery.

Around 1,300 passengers have been reported to the US aviation regulator since February 2021, in a spike in unruly behaviour since the start of the year.

A typical year would see between 100 and 150 incidents.

The figures from the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) came amid an extension of its “zero tolerance” policy towards unruly passengers.

Most incidents involved passengers not wearing masks, a legal requirement onboard US flights. The mask mandate on public transport in the US has been extended until 13 September, which is likely when the “zero tolerance” policy will also be extended until.