Again today, an El Al plane had to be diverted from its route because of a violent passenger: El Al has announced that flight LY 251, that was on its way to Tel Aviv from Tel Aviv to Prague, returned to Tel Aviv because of violent behavior by a passenger that represented a risk to the flight's safety. The decision to return to Ben Gurion Airport was made shortly after take-off, after a "violent passenger" incident was declared.
A similar incident occurred in the skies yesterday as well, when an El Al plane flying from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv had to make an emergency landing in Madrid. The emergency landing came after a passenger became unruly and behaved violently towards the air crew, to the point that it was decided that he was jeopardizing the flight's safety.
Zero tolerance policy
Any emergency landing such as this causes a delay in the flight for all passengers, not to mention the unpleasantness, and it also involves considerable costs for the airline.
In both incidents, a complaint was filed with the police. This morning, when the Prague-bound flight returned to Tel Aviv, the police were waiting for the passenger concerned. El Al said in a statement: "A criminal complaint has been filed against the passenger, and after the incident has been investigated and the details of how it came about are clear, the company will examine the use of further measures at its disposal, among them putting the passenger on a blacklist, which will mean that he will be forbidden to fly on El Al in the future, and even a claim on account of the damage apparently caused to the company, in order to exhaust the treatment of the matter."
El Al CEO Avigal Soreq said, "We regret these kinds of incidents that harm El Al and the flight experience of our customers. We shall continue to apply a determined policy of zero tolerance for incidents in which a passenger behaves violently and puts passengers and crew at risk. We will not allow harm to the safety and security of El Al employees."
Not a rare sight
Passenger violence on flights is not a rare sight, and in fact it has become worse during the coronavirus pandemic, with disputes arising over the wearing of masks and the refusal of passengers to comply with instructions. A few months ago, an American Airlines plane had to make an emergency landing on its way to Israel because of an unruly passenger.
In the US, passengers who become violent on flights can be put on a blacklist, preventing them from boarding flights of airlines whose operations they have disrupted. The airlines are currently seeking to put together a unified blacklist that will prevent a passenger who has behaved violently on one airline from flying with other airlines as well.
A blacklist is an effective tool, and it would be as well to maintain one in Israel too, but severer penalties are also required. These should include monetary claims against violent passengers on account of the costs of making emergency landings and the delays caused to the other passengers, and even prison sentences.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 2, 2022.
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