A passenger has just been sentenced to 15 months in jail for her behavior on a May 2021 Southwest Airlines flight.
In this post:
The passenger who punched a Southwest flight attendant
The incident in question involves a May 23, 2021, Southwest Airlines flight from Sacramento (SMF) to San Diego (SAN). According to reports, as the plane began its descent, a flight attendant asked a 29-year-old woman to put on her seatbelt, stow her tray table, and put on her face mask properly.
Rather than complying with those basic instructions, the passenger instead began recording the flight attendant with her cell phone, pushing her, standing up, and then punching the flight attendant in the face and yanking her hair.
The entire assault was captured on cell phone (from another passenger), and the flight attendant suffered three chipped teeth, two of which needed crowns. On top of that, the flight attendant had bruises and a cut under her left eye that required stitches. You can see part of the video of the assault for yourself below, though be warned that it’s graphic.
While we’ve seen a huge uptick in passengers misbehaving on flights since the start of the pandemic, this has to be among the worst behavior we’ve ever seen on a plane. This specific incident was also one of the reasons that Southwest delayed the return of alcohol sales on flights.
Passenger faces 15 months in jail for assault
Over a year after the incident took place, the passenger has finally been sentenced this past week by a federal judge in San Diego. The passenger plead guilty to one count of interference with flight crew members and attendants. As far as sentencing goes, the woman:
- Has been sentenced to 15 months in jail
- Has to pay nearly $26,000 in restitution
- Has to pay a fine of $7,500 for assault
- Won’t be allowed to fly for three years while on supervised release
- Must participate in an anger management class or counseling
This is the second Southwest passenger to be sentenced to jail this past week. Another Southwest passenger was sentenced to 48 days in jail for masturbating multiple times next to his seatmate. The passenger had several prior state and local convictions for lewd and lascivious conduct. In that case the sentencing happened a bit faster, as the flight only took place in early April of this year.
Bottom line
It’s good to see passengers facing consequences for their abhorrent behavior. There’s misbehavior, and then there’s assaulting a flight attendant to the point that they have their teeth knocked out and require stitches. The worst part is that all of this happened simply because the flight attendant was trying to get the passenger to comply with regulations.
Fortunately we’ve seen a significant decrease in unruly passenger behavior since the mask mandate ended, so hopefully that continues.
What do you make of this Southwest passenger’s punishment?
She should be banned for life and have her name shared with every major domestic and international carriers on the list.
Wow. This is absolutely crazy. How upsetting for everyone on board and the poor Flight attendant.
Should have received 5 years in jail for that. Need to make a statement for future passengers That this kind of behavior will not be tolerated
Thank goodness that fella stood up for her.
Firstly - I don't want to watch the video - I don't need my opinion of people lowered any further.
Secondly - I am dismayed that nobody came to the FA's aid sooner but then nobody ever wants to get involved, yeah?
Thirdly - Much too lenient a sentence. Three years minimum, $100K in restitution, $100K fine sounds about right. 10 year ban on flying. Serious sentences are the only way to stop this.
If you watched the video you would see that someone did come to the help of the flight attendant in the few seconds it took to get out of his seat.
Agreed 100%. Someone did come to her attention almost as fast as you could. It happened very quickly
Bravo to the man for saving the flight attendant.
Now that’s a good way to tip FAs
Should have been banned from all flying on all airlines anywhere for life! Prison? Yes! General population? DEFINITELY!!!
Interesting to compare the consequences people's various actions are getting. I think the airline should be required to have some sort of compensation or benefit for the other passengers on the flight. I would think that in this case it caused quite a scene and disrupted or disturbed others on the flight. Perhaps people may consider not flying with that airline after the incident.
How you arrive at the airline should be punished is amazing. You probably think the aggressor should get a promotion at work rather than jail time. Wtf is wrong with you? Required to have compensation for other passengers. Required. And America wonders what is wrong in it’s society.
Prison not jail
Given this story, I would say the guy who was masturbating on Southwest got off easy.
And he also got a light sentence!
Man oh man is it much better to be a passenger assaulted by crew/local police than it is to be crew assaulted by a passenger.
Dao got millions (allegedly, and allegedly over 100M), what does she get?
Dao is making it rain at strip clubs around the globe.
Maybe I can convince a crew member to assault me. They get 15 months in prison, but I give them 65% of the settlement! Genius!
Dao got his ass beat by the police … not United crew.
Lmao, what a light sentence. Anyone wanna take a stab at why that may be?
She should have gotten the lethal injection.
She should've been hang, drawn and quartered. /s