In response, the TSA is increasing the number of passenger investigations and airlines are banning some weapons and alcohol and taking additional measures to protect airline crews.
Following Delta’s announcement, US, Southwest, United, and Alaska carriers announced that they would be enacting the same policy to ban controlled weapons on flights to Washington. United will also ban guns on flights to Richmond, Virginia.
American said active duty military members who travel under the orders of the Department of Defense are exempt from the policy and that it would waive fare differences for customers who have to rebook travel as a result of this temporary policy change. It added that passengers returning to Washington on a return ticket should contact customer service about weapons they checked on their outbound flight.
Alcohol
The airline also said it has revised its pre-departure announcements to further emphasize the importance of following instructions from crew members and complying with mandatory face masking policies.
Bastian said 99.99% of the passengers have behaved well but said it would take action against problem passengers.
Southwest Airlines told CNN it currently does not serve alcohol on flights due to service changes related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Impressions
TSA told CNN on Wednesday that it is instituting a second screening of some passengers boarding, in addition to standard screening procedures at TSA checkpoints.
“This is routine practice and represents one of several layers of security we employ,” agency spokesman Carter Langston told CNN when asked about a report of TSA officers detaining passengers at the gate of a flight to Washington for identification. and bags to check. .
“It may occur more frequently as a result of recent and upcoming events, but it is routine practice,” said Langston.
The screening of passengers traveling to Washington is in addition to increased security and police presence at the three DC area airports with armored vehicles and a remarkable increase in the number of visible officers in terminals. TSA told CNN on Monday that the agency is “very alert.”
Keep crew and passengers safe
American moves crew members from downtown Washington hotels to hotels closer to airports. It provides them with private transportation between hotels and airports through January 24 and increases the workforce at airports in the DC area.
Bastian said at a conference call on Thursday that Delta has banned more than 800 passengers since the mask mandate began. Some of them have been banned in the past week, although he said they are “not a huge number.” He previously told CNBC that 99.99% of passengers were behaving but it would take the necessary steps to deal with unruly passengers.
“We are all very alert, based on the events of the past few weeks in Washington,” Bastian said on CNBC. “We’re doing an awful lot in the field of intelligence gathering and talking to the intelligence agencies, both federal and local, as well as FAA and TSA. We’ve increased the amount of security, both in airports and in the air, seen and unseen.”
The Federal Aviation Administration also said it is launching a “special emphasis enforcement program” to work hard on passengers who “attack, threaten, intimidate, or interfere with a crew member’s duties.”
FAA administrator Steve Dickson wrote in an injunction that the agency has recently seen a “proliferation” of incidents of passengers who refused to adhere to pandemic-related safety measures, such as wearing masks, as well as an increase in bad behavior “after the 6 January, 2021 Capitol violence. ”The agency could fine passengers up to $ 35,000 for violations.
– Zachary Cohen and CNN’s Whitney Wild contributed to this report.