Delta wants unruly passengers put on national 'no-fly' list

Pictures show how COVID-19 pandemic altered air travel in 2020, 2021

Aviation photographer Ryan Patterson talks with FOX Television Stations about how we captured the striking difference between air travel in 2020 and 2021.

NEW YORK (AP) - Delta Air Lines has requested that the U.S. Department of Justice put any person convicted of a disruption on board a flight to the national "no fly" list.

In a letter to the Justice Department Attorney General Merrick Garland dated Thursday, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said there should be "zero tolerance" for any behavior that affects flight safety. Bastian noted that while such incidents of bad behavior represent a small fraction of overall flights on Delta, the rate of incidents on the airline has increased nearly 100 percent since 2019.

"This action will help prevent future incidents and serve as a strong symbol of the consequences of not complying with crew member instructions on commercial aircraft," Bastian wrote in the letter furnished to The Associated Press by Delta Air Lines.

Delta has, along with its industry partner Airlines for America, been pushing since last year for heightened reporting, investigation and prosecution of those who interfere with on-board safety. The airlines, based in Atlanta, said it has put nearly 1,900 people on Delta’s "no-fly" list for refusing to comply with masking requirements and submitted more than 900 banned names to the Transportation Security Administration to pursue civil penalties.

A spokesperson with TSA, which enforces the FBI "no fly" list of potential terrorist threats, referred a reporter to the FBI since that agency maintains the database. Neither the FBI or the Justice Department could be immediately reached for comment. The Federal Aviation Administration cited 4.9 reported unruly incidents per 10,000 flights the week ending Jan. 23, according to its website.

In December, the TSA announced a new partnership with the FAA that would call for unruly airline passengers facing additional consequences for bad behavior under a new partnership. Under the alliance, the FAA will share information of passengers facing fines for unruly behavior with the TSA, which may remove the passenger from its pre-check screening eligibility, a privilege reserved for low-risk travelers.