In the first quarter of 2023, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported a record number of cases of unruly passengers to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), therefore asking the federal police to start criminal proceedings against these travellers, due to their behaviour, which put the safety of the flight, other passengers or crew at risk.

"We have zero tolerance. Anyone who misbehaves on board a plane will simply have to stay home, as they will suffer serious consequences", said interim FAA administrator Billy Nolen. The Deputy Director of Criminal investigation of the FBI, Luis Quesada, echoed him: "We will continue to work with our partner to guarantee the safety of all passengers and to combat violence on board commercial flights".

Cases reported in 2023 include: attempting to open the aircraft door; using an improvised weapon to assault a flight attendant; assault on a passenger; to a flight attendant; up to sexual harassment. The FBI recently created a web page, called "Crimes Aboard Aircraft", with information about the types of crimes it investigates and how people can defend themselves and report them.

On the same topic see also the article published by AVIONEWS.