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Passengers behaving badly or violently during flights in the US can expect to be sent to prison, several court sentences handed down recently indicate.
America’s largest flight attendant union says nearly one in five of its members encountered a violent plane passenger last year, and and the time is right for more focus on criminal charges for in-air disturbances.
“When people are facing jail time for acting out on a plane, we suddenly see some sobering up,” said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants.
 
Here, briefly, are a few separate cases and recent sentences, including one last week:
CASE ONE: A California woman punched a female Southwest Airlines flight attendant in the face during a flight between Sacramento and San Diego, breaking the attendant’s teeth.
Vyvianna Quinonez, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of interference with cabin crew, admitting she punched the flight attendant in the face and head with a closed fist, seized her hair and pulled it.
As the flight neared landing, the attendant had asked Quinonez to buckle-up her seat belt, stow her tray table and wear her face-mask correctly.
Instead, Quinonez shouted abuse and began recording the attendant on her mobile phone – then pushed her, stood up and threw wild punches that left the victim with three chipped teeth, bruises and a cut under her left eye that required stitches.
SENTENCE: Quinonez was sentenced last week to 15 months in a US federal prison, plus a fine of US$7500 and an order to pay almost US$26,000 in restitution. Quinonez is banned from flying for three years while on supervised release and must participate in anger management classes or counselling.
“Attacks on flight crew members, who perform vital jobs to ensure passenger safety, will not be tolerated,” US Attorney Randy Grossman said in a statement after the sentencing.
 
CASE TWO: A passenger had to be bound to his seat with duct tape after groping and assaulting flight attendants during a Frontier Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Miami.
Maxwell Berry, 23, who was said to have been drinking, strode shirtless around the cabin, groped the breasts of several flight attendants and then punched a male attendant in the face, according to the police report.
Video of part of the incident went viral online last year. It showed Berry yelling “shut the f— up,” at a flight attendant before insisting his “parents are worth more than f—ing two million goddamn dollars”. It later showed Berry being duct-taped to his seat.
SENTENCE: 60 days in prison followed by a year of supervised release, a US $2500 fine and an order to pay more than $1500 in restitution.
 
CASE THREE: A Southwest Airlines passenger admitted to publicly masturbating multiple times on a Southwest flight from Seattle to Phoenix.
Antonio Sherrodd McGarity was arrested on charges of performing “lewd, indecent, or obscene acts”, court documents show. In an unusual twist, a female passenger and witness was reported to have filmed McGarity during his prolonged misbehaviour. McGarity, 34, is said to have repeated the act four times.
For a report of this peculiar case see: Will huge new fines deter in-flight masturbators and biters?
SENTENCE: 48 days in prison and a lifetime ban from ever flying again with Southwest Airlines. (Southwest imposed the latter penalty, not the court.)
 
CASE FOUR:  North Carolina man Ryan Eugene Larned, 38, pleaded guilty to sexual contact without consent while on an aircraft.
Prosecutors said he put his hands down the pants of a 17-year-old girl sitting beside him on an American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Raleigh. Without ever talking to the high school junior seated next to him, who was travelling alone, Larned touched her groin area, court documents said.
SENTENCE: Ten months in prison, plus a fine of US$2000 and identification as a sex offender in the community.
 
The cases follow a move in April, when the US Federal Aviation Administration announced its largest ever fine for unruly behaviour, demanding payment of US$81,950 from a woman whose conduct got her duct-taped to her seat on an American Airlines flight to Charlotte in July.
Written by Peter Needham