Editorial: ‘Air rage’ again rears ugly head

Tuesday, July 27, 1999 | 9:55 a.m.

It is too bad the Senate Commerce Committee missed Delta Air Lines Flight 194, which left Los Angeles for Atlanta over the weekend but made an unscheduled stop at McCarran International Airport. The lawmakers would have witnessed passengers and flight attendants restraining a man after he allegedly tipped a beverage cart and then struck other passengers in the head with his hand. He reportedly was angered because he had to wait his turn for a drink. But in the melee a woman and her baby were scalded with hot coffee.

This is yet another example of "air rage," the dangerous growing phenomenon that Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has addressed with his pending Safe and Friendly Skies bill. The legislation before the Senate committee would allow fines of up to $25,000 instead of the current maximum $1,100 for unruly behavior on commercial flights. Reid also wants abusive passengers banned from flying for a year.

In the latest case the man was handed over to law enforcement authorities in Las Vegas. Those of us who fly commercially have been frustrated by overbooked flights, lost luggage and lousy airplane food. But there is absolutely no excuse for passengers to attack one another.

Congress needs to pass the strongest legislation feasible because the FBI responds to about one unruly passenger call a month at McCarran alone. Multiply that by all the airports around the country and one day we could be reading about some incident far more serious than spilled coffee.