Unruly Airplane Passenger Cases Referred to FBI for Prosecution

The Federal Aviation Administration referred more than 250 cases of violent passengers to the Federal Bureau of Investigation since late 2021, the agency announced.

The FAA has sent more cases to the FBI as incidents of passenger violence on planes, including sexual assault and attacks on flight attendants, spiked during the pandemic. The FAA referred at least six cases in the first few months of 2023, including one last month where a passenger “tried to open aircraft door and use a makeshift weapon to assault a flight attendant,” the agency said.

“If you act out on a plane, you ...