U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who will soon become the new Senate majority leader, is calling on the FBI and Transportation Security Administration to put everyone involved in last week’s Capitol riot on the federal No-Fly list.
Over the weekend, the Federal Aviation Administration tweeted a warning to the flying public after the deadly incident and several related incidents on other airlines.
Alaska Airlines said Friday at least 14 people could be banned from the company’s flights after the passengers were rowdy, argumentative and refused to wear masks on a flight from Dulles International Airport to Seattle.
The Seattle Times reported airline spokesperson Ray Lane said those passengers were on Flight 1085 from the D.C.-area airport to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Thursday night.
“Last night, a number of passengers onboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1085 from Washington Dulles to Seattle were non-mask compliant, rowdy, argumentative and harassed our crew members,” Lane wrote in an email Friday to the newspaper.
“Their behavior was unacceptable. We apologize to our other guests who were made uncomfortable on the flight.”
The 14 passengers face being placed on Alaska’s ban list, Lane said.
Alaska Airlines has banned 288 people for violating its mask policy, not including the 14 potential additions, he said.
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, issued an immediate No-Fly ruling the day after last Wednesday’s riot.
“Given the heinous domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol yesterday, I am urging the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to use their authorities to add the names of all identified individuals involved in the attack to the federal No Fly List and keep them off planes,” Thompson said, as reported by USA Today. “This should include all individuals identified as having entered the Capitol building – an intrusion which threatened the safety of Members of Congress and staff and served as an attack on our Nation.”
“We already saw reports of ‘unruly mobs’ in air on the way to Washington, D.C.,” Thompson said. “It does not take much imagination to envision how they might act out on their way out of D.C. if allowed to fly unfettered. This is an action that TSA and the FBI, by law, are able to take but, to my knowledge, have not yet taken. Alleged perpetrators of a domestic terrorist attack who have been identified by the FBI should be held accountable.”
The FBI decides whom to place on the federal No Fly List, and the TSA enforces it by denying boarding passes to banned individuals. According to the Department of Homeland Security website, “Individuals on the No Fly List are prevented from boarding an aircraft when flying within, to, from and over the United States.”
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