Southwest bans woman accused of hitting attendant and pauses restarting the sale of alcohol
Southwest Airlines announced that they had banned the woman who allegedly punched a flight attendant in the face, knocking out two of her teeth.
According to the Associated Press, an executive disclosed the ban for the company on Thursday in a message to employees.
The altercation occurred on Sunday on a Southwest Airlines flight from Sacramento to San Diego.
Michelle Manner, a woman who resides in San Diego, captured part of the incident on camera as she was sitting two rows away, KGTV reported.
The AP reported that Vyvianna Quinonez, 28, was arrested by San Diego Harbor Police and charged with felony battery.
President of the airline’s flight attendant union, Lyn Montgomery, says it has never seen this level of hostility among passengers before.
USA Today reported that Montgomery said 477 passenger-misconduct incidents on Southwest between April 8 and May 15.
On Friday, Southwest also announced that as a result of the assault, they would not resume the sale of alcohol on its flights, the AP reported.
According to the AP, Southwest spokesman Chris Mainz said that the company was pausing the restart of alcohol sales because of “the recent uptick in industry-wide incidents of passenger disruptions inflight.”
Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has relaxed its guidelines on masks, masks are still required to be worn on planes and airports.
Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration have reported a significant spike in unruly passengers, many of them tied to mask-related incidents.
In January, the FAA enacted a zero-tolerance policy. Still, according to CNBC, the Federal Aviation Administration said it had received around 2,500 reports of unruly passengers across all airlines since Jan. 1.
In February, an unnamed Delta Airlines passenger faced a $27,500 fine for allegedly hitting a flight attendant in the face back in October.
In March, an unnamed JetBlue Airlines passenger faced a $14,500 fine for forcing a flight to turn around in December for not wearing a mask.
Earlier this month, an unnamed Delta Airlines passenger faced a $52,500 fine for allegedly hitting a flight attendant twice on a flight back in December.
