Secretary Buttigieg to Consider No-Fly List

This year, the Federal Aviation Administration reported more than 6,300 onboard incidents since January of 2021. In response, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will consider a “No-Fly List.” The list will serve to protect airline crews and passengers from unruly flyers. 

Secretary Buttigieg’s No-Fly List

The move comes in response to a letter sent by the CEO of Delta Airlines, Ed Bastian. In the letter, Bastian called for DOT to expand the nation’s “No-Fly List” typically instituted to prevent terrorism. In an interview with CNN, Secretary Buttigieg responded to the letter. “The airlines are often doing their internal no-fly list, and some of them have spoken about coordinating on that, and we’re looking at these policy recommendations as well. Not that we’re waiting on that to take action.” Delta put almost 2,000 passengers on its internal no-fly list and reported 1,000 names to the Transportation Security Administration. The vast majority of these incidents revolve around the federal mask mandate and the desire to ignore safety regulations. 

“The (Federal Aviation Administration) has a zero-tolerance policy, fines have been increased, enforcement has been increased, and we’ve seen some encouraging news in terms of downward trends in unruly incidents,” Buttigieg said.

But the DOT Secretary doubled down on his statements aimed at those who elect to misbehave. He spoke directly to the unruly passengers. “Let’s be very clear. This is happening at an unacceptable rate,” he said. “Anything besides zero is an unacceptable rate. I can’t believe we even have to say this, but you need to listen to what flight crews say, and you need to act in a way that is safe and not disruptive to flight crews and your fellow passengers.”

There is no word yet about what parameters would surround the no-fly list. What results in addition to the list and how long passengers remain are questions that remain unanswered.