Sara Nelson, the powerful president of the 50,000-member Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, is calling on U.S. airlines to band together and share passenger information to avoid a repeat of the stunning attack last week on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump.
Five people were killed when a mob of people briefly took over the building.
“We support the swiftest action with clear consequences and clear rules for keeping these people off planes,” Nelson said, according to Forbes magazine.
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On behalf of the flight attendants, Nelson is asking the Transportation Security Administration and the individual airlines to coordinate their efforts to prevent any rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 from flying back to Washington D.C. next week for the inauguration of Joe Biden, who defeated Trump in the Nov. 3 general election.
Nelson wants the airlines to conduct a review of the manifests for the flights to and from Washington before and after the day of the attack.
“While the airlines cannot coordinate on competitive issues, they certainly can coordinate on safety issues,” Nelson said. Airlines, she added, should share names of passengers, especially those who have already been identified and/or arrested for their behavior.
“An airline could say ‘we have banned this person because of XYZ’ and that could actually become an individual ban on each airline,” she said.
Airlines could also coordinate a temporary cross-industry no-fly list that is targeted for a specific time period or for specific airports.
“This would allow airlines to say, ‘These people present a risk, and they can’t be flying in the next week or whatever time period,’” Nelson said. “Typically this would not be something that the airlines would do themselves, but this is not a typical time. That could certainly be done in coordination with the FBI and TSA. The FBI can certainly say, ‘These people are a flight risk.’”
“We in aviation have a serious role to play in national security,” she added. “Airlines, in coordination with TSA, DHS, FAA, DOT and law enforcement must take all steps to ensure the safety and security of passengers and crew by keeping all problems on the ground,” said the AFA in a statement. “Acts against our democracy, our government, and the freedom we claim as Americans must disqualify these individuals from the freedom of flight.”
