The TSA says more flight attendants have been signing up for crew member self-defense classes since they resumed in July. TSA had paused the classes during the pandemic but started them in DFW in 2018.
"There are defensive measure techniques as far as strikes, how to counter edged weapons, items on a plane that are useful in their defense," says Special Agent in Charge Byron Irby.
Since classes started in 2018, Irby says 4,000 flight attendants have signed up in North Texas. He says some may have attended more than once, but since DFW is a hub for American and Southwest is based in Dallas, many flight attendants from other parts of the country may have attended here.
While self-defense classes have been available in North Texas since 2018, Irby says more flight attendants have been signing up with more reports of passengers angry over masks or other COVID precautions.
"People have been pent up for some time, and they're taking their frustrations out on the wrong people," he says.
"I try to give, obviously, good customer service. I try to make that my focus, but sometimes things still kind of go sideways," says one flight attendant who was attending Tuesday. She works for Mesa Airlines, a regional carrier for American. "You don't know what's going through their mind that day. Little things can set people off."
Other flight attendants say the training will help any passenger who is angry. The training includes de-escalation and then tips on how to protect yourself if someone is hostile or may become violent.
"I just wanted to take a class so I could learn to protect myself, defend myself in a professional manner," an American Airlines flight attendant said.
Irby says air marshals will get involved if someone is violent, but the training can hold a violent passenger off until a marshal can intervene.
"It's not an advanced course. They can take the class as many times as they want, but it is a basic training class," he says. "We encourage them, after this class, to seek other training, like self defense classes or more advanced training."
According to the FAA, there have been 4,385 reports of unruly passengers on flights in the U.S. this year. The number was through Tuesday.
Numbers peaked in February and March with more than 12 unruly passengers reported per 10,000 flights. The week of September 12, about six unruly passengers were reported per 10,000 flights.
The FAA has initiated 789 investigations of unruly passengers so far this year, compared to 183 in all of 2020 and 146 in 2019. Unruly passengers can be fined up to $37,000.
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