An incident this weekend of a passenger assaulting a Southwest flight attendant, resulting in the crew member losing two teeth, further illustrates the escalation of violence and threats on airline flights by unruly passengers, prompting a call by airlines and unions for tighter security and more stringent penalties for offenders.

According to CBS News, there were 477 documented incidents of passenger misconduct and/or violence on flights in US airways from April 7th through May 15th.  They range from passengers who are drunk and disruptive to people refusing to following mask requirements to individuals who seemingly think safety rules do not apply to them.  In Sunday’s incident, the woman who struck the flight attendant took issue with the flight attendant instructing the passenger to keep her seat belt on and remain seated while the plane was taxiing on the ground.

“While the flight attendant was staggering back with a bloody face, we were all told to stay in our seats while they brought in police to remove the unruly passenger,” a witness to the incident described in a post on Facebook.

“Our reports indicate that a passenger physically assaulted a flight attendant upon landing on Flight #700 from Sacramento to San Diego Sunday morning,” the spokesperson for the airline stated. “The passenger repeatedly ignored standard inflight instructions and became verbally and physically abusive upon landing. Law enforcement officials were requested to meet the flight upon arrival, and the passenger was taken into custody.”

The Sunday incident happened one day before the FAA levied serious fines on passengers who had disrupted other flights.  One passenger was fined $52,000 for trying to break into the cockpit during a flight, hitting a flight attendant twice in the face.  A woman was fined $9,000 for refusing to wear a mask on a February 9th flight.  In a third incident, a passenger who said he had a bomb on a New Year’s Day flight from Phoenix to Chicago was fined $27,000 after the flight was diverted to Oklahoma City, where the man was taken into police custody; additional charges are pending.

The FAA also reported more than 1,900 incidents of passengers refusing to abide by airline requirements to wear facemasks during the pandemic.  Airlines have increased to 3,000 the number of people kept on internal “no-fly” lists because of previous bad behavior on flights.

Union leaders, however, challenge the way airlines handle violent or uncooperative passengers, allowing them to board later flights after an onboard incident.

“The flying public needs to understand that egregious behavior will result in being banned from flying with Southwest,” Transit Workers Union Local 556 President Lyn Montgomery wrote. “No passenger should be removed from one flight only to be permitted to board the very next Southwest Airlines flight after a non-compliance incident.”