look at how the faa is punishing the worst offenders. reporter: dramatic video of a redeye turning into a black eye, as a passenger gets fighting mad over a seat assignment. even appearing to throw punches at an airline employee before allegedly trying to make a run for it by opening a cabin door at san francisco s airport late sunday night. i was completely terrified. i was right in front of him the whole time. oh, my god. reporter: naya jimenez shot this video. you see things like this go viral all the time, and you just never think you are going to be the one in that situation. reporter: in march, a dispute between two travelers turn into a fist fight. in dallas, ahead of a flight to phoenix. hey! reporter: disruptive passenger incidents skyrocketed during the pandemic to nearly 6,000 in 2021. while they have declined since the lifting of the mask mandate, they are still happening more frequently than pre-pandemic. during the first four months of
we have seen more incidents recently let s talk about the flights what are the chances of a national no fly list for these up unruly passengers? this is part of 250 since two years ago when we announced a closer partnership with the department of justice with the fbi to hold people accountable i think that s a big part of the reason why we have seen an 80% drop in the rate of these unruly passenger incidents since they peaked even one is too many the message is loud and clear to treat flight crews and your fellow passengers with respect there will be serious legal consequences, sometimes prosecution, if you don t do that there are other mesh tasures th are being talked about many airlines have a no flight list more needs to be done in terms
since then, the faa says the rate of unruly passenger incidents has dropped more than 80%, thanks in part to hefty fines and criminal referrals. but the levels are still higher than pre-pandemic years. just last week, punches were flown on a southwest flight in dallas while the plane was still on the ground. days earlier, a united flight went through this. [bleep] well, tell them to bring someone to shoot because they are going to have to shoot whatever it is, it s bloodbath everywhere. taking over this plane. authorities say that man tried to not only open the plane s emergency door. he also tried to stab a flight attendant with a broken metal spoon. stuff like this has people on edge. so much so that an american airlines flight diverted last month out of fear a woman was trying to breach the cockpit. but she says she was just aggressively trying to get a drink. some perspective on this now from the people who live
violent incidents in the sky remain another huge challenge. passengers assaulting crew members, public intoxication and other acts of aggression. it is a trend that spiked during the pandemic with covid mask mandates. since then the faa says the rate of unruly passenger incidents has dropped more than 80%, thanks in part to hefty fines and criminal referrals. but the levels are still higher than pre-pandemic years. just last week, punches were thrown on a southwest flight in dallas while the plane was still on the ground. days earlier, a united flight went through this. well, tell them to shoot me down because they will have to shoot me down today. remember that. where are they diverting us? wherever there is, it is going to be a blood bath.
reported close calls on airport runways. and it s not just on the tarmac. this week, as you ll recall, a man was arrested for allegedly right to stab a flight attendant in the cabin. cnn s pete muntean is live in washington. so, pete, what stood out to you from today s, at time, difficult hearing? both of those things came up today. that unruly passenger incident just the other day, the chief of the faa, acting administer, billy nolan, says the faa still has a zero-tolerance policy against these unruly passenger incidents. the number of those have actually gone down in recent years. it was really more of a 2021 issue. the number went down by half in 2022. we have not seen many this year, although there have been two high-profile ones so far this year. the numbers that are going up are the close calls near runways of major u.s. airports involving commercial airliners. they are known, officially, as runway incursions. and like you mentioned, there