Delta Air Lines has banned passengers harassing Utah Sen. Mitt Romney and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham from their flights last week and banned all guns in checked baggage on flights to Washington, DC, until after President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration next week.
Romney, the only Republican senator to vote to impeach President Donald Trump after being impeached, was on a flight from Salt Lake City to DC when he was first harassed by a Trump supporter while he waited for his flight.
A second video showed dozens of people on a flight shouting ‘traitor’ at Romney, although he is not featured in that clip.
On Friday, Graham was preparing to leave DC when Trump supporters confronted him at the Reagan International Airport, also calling him a “ traitor. ”
Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Air Lines, said the company has now placed 880 people on its no-fly list for failing to meet mask requirements and that others were unable to fly with the airline due to harassing passengers or unruly behavior in related to the US election results.
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Delta Air Lines has banned 880 passengers from harassing Utah Sen. Mitt Romney and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham last week for their flights. A woman approached Romney (left and right) while waiting for a flight from Salt Lake City to Washington, DC
In addition, Bastian said the airline will ban passengers from traveling to DC with firearms starting this weekend.
“We are all very alert based on the events of recent weeks in Washington,” Bastian told CNBC Thursday morning.
Law enforcement officials are exempt from the ban.
Bastian also said other security measures will be taken at the airports and on planes “as we look at the week ahead.”
Earlier last week, Romney was baffled and taunted by Trump supporters ahead of the ‘Save America’ rally.
“Let him know what we think,” a woman is heard shouting in a viral video of the incident, before a group of Trump supporters with their masks pulled down chanting “Traitor” and “Traitor Mitt” from their seats.
Romney is believed to be further ahead of the plane, but he cannot be seen as the Trump fans recording the incident.
Trump supporters traveling from Texas to DC on a plane caused chaos as flight attendants struggled to seize control of the plane amid chants, cheers, and arguments.
At one point in video of the incident, someone on the plane shows a ‘Trump 2020’ projection before the lights in the cockpit are turned on.
Meanwhile, people hear shouting at each other, with one saying, “Shut up!”
Others claim someone on the run “ threatened ” them, but it’s unclear what happened.
The next day, Americans watched as dozens of MAGA supporters stormed the Capitol in a shocking incident that killed five people, including a Capitol Police officer.
Sen Graham was at Reagan Airport near DC when he had a showdown with some vocal Trump supporters last Friday.
The Trump loyalists confronted Graham after he pulled out of his pledge to challenge Electoral College certification on Wednesday over the debunked claim that many thousands of votes were fraudulent.
The video is picked up by someone yelling ‘you traitor’ at Graham while surrounded by police officers walking down a corridor from the airport.
“Lindsey Graham, you are a traitor,” someone shouts. “You know it was rigged, you know it was rigged!”
Graham seems to be speaking to the person yelling, but it is inaudible.
“You garbage men,” someone shouts. “It will be like this forever wherever you go for the rest of your life.”
Check the mood! Check the mood! Check the mood! Check the mood! Piece of shit, ”someone says as Graham keeps walking with his mask on his chin.
Sen Graham was at Reagan Airport near DC when he had a showdown with some vocal Trump supporters last Friday
The video is picked up by someone yelling ‘you traitor’ at Graham while surrounded by police officers walking down a corridor from the airport
People start chanting ‘Audit the Vote’ and ‘Audit Our Vote’ before someone yells ‘you son of an asshole’ at Graham.
On Tuesday, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said Trump supporters who violated the US Capitol should not fly and be added to a government ‘no-fly’ list.
And on Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that it will implement a new ‘zero tolerance’ policy for unruly airline passengers following the series of incidents involving Trump supporters.
FAA chief Steve Dickson signed an order directing the agency to harshly punish any passenger who disrupts a flight or who fails to follow the instructions of the airline’s personnel.
The number of passengers banned from US airlines is now over 2,700, and dozens of those bans have been handed out in the eight days since the January 6 riot.
Dickson said any passenger caught in violation of the new order could face fines of up to $ 35,000 and possible jail time.
The chief stressed that the FAA will not issue warning letters or negotiate fines.
“We will no longer judge certain of these unruly passenger cases with advice or warnings. We’ll go straight to enforcement, ”Dickson confirmed.
“We have seen a disturbing increase in these incidents … We will take the most vigorous enforcement action against every passenger who deals with them.”
Dickson said the agency’s special zero tolerance program will run until at least March 30.
He added that in some cases the FAA can refer incidents for criminal prosecution to the Department of Justice, which can demand sentences of up to 20 years for flight disruptions.