Air Canada workers subdued an out-of-control teenager who allegedly attacked one of his own family members while the plane was in flight.
Wednesday afternoon’s flight from Toronto to Calgary was diverted to Winnipeg, where the 16-year-old suspect was arrested, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.
The suspect’s call was not made public due to his age and the victim was treated at the scene for minor physical injuries, according to law enforcement, which did not specify what triggered the assault.
This is the latest example of a disturbing trend of unruly passengers that spiked to historic levels in 2021.
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Air Canada Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft landing at London Heathrow International Airport in England on Aug. 2, 2019. (Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The number of reports of unruly passengers never exceeded 1,200 between 2017 and 2020, according to statistics from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Then it exploded 492% from 2020 (1,009) to 2021 (5,983), the FAA reported.
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Tyesha Best, who has worked as a flight attendant at JetBlue Airways for the past few years and is president of the Orlando branch of Transportation Workers Union Local 579, told TheStreet that she witnessed some of the most abhorrent habits over the past two years.
One example she gave was about a passenger who peed in an empty bottle in front of the other passengers and called the flight attendants the c-word.
The number of unruly air passengers reached historic levels in 2021 and is still back to pre-pandemic levels, according to FAA statistics. (FAA)
“Flights are fuller, but attitudes are also fuller,” Best told TheStreet in a Q&A consultation in December. “I’ve noticed a significant substitution of COVID. La stress of COVID itself played a negative role in the habit of visitors aboard the plane.
“At some point, almost all airlines got rid of the ability to buy alcohol on flights because they saw it as a primary element contributing to the competitive behavior of visitors. “
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It’s unclear what fees (if any) the young man involved in the Air Canada incident will have to pay, but violence on planes in the U. S. led to federal action last spring.
The FAA referred more than 20 Americans between December 2021 and April 2023 to the FBI for federal prosecution in August 2023.
“The rogue habit raises serious protective considerations for passengers and crew, so we are aggressively addressing this factor,” said U. S. Secretary of Transportation. U. S. Secretary of State Pete Buttigieg in an August 2023 statement. to $37,000 consistent with rape. “
The number of unruly air passengers reported in June between June 2017 and June 2023, according to the FAA. (FAA)
Best told TheStreet that flight attendants want to connect travelers with their families, but “they also should understand that we are airline employees that would also like to connect with our families when we come home from work.”
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“It becomes complicated when we are attacked and have to wait for medical treatment, which causes delays and affects not only the operations of the airline industry but also the consumers of those aircraft,” Best told the media.
Chris Eberhart is a crime and US news reporter for Fox News Digital. Email tips to [email protected] or on Twitter @ChrisEberhart48.