Alaska Airlines passenger threatened to kill flight attendant: feds

News

By Patrick Reilly

April 11, 2023 | 5:48pm

An unruly Alaskan Airlines passenger who had to be restrained with zip ties mid-flight was arrested after she threatened to kill a flight attendant, forcing the plane to land.

Chloe M. Dasilva, 32, was charged with one count of interfering with flight crew members and attendants, federal prosecutors in Kansas City announced Monday.

While onboard a nonstop flight from San Francisco International Airport to Chicago O’Hare International Airport on Friday, Dasilva became “disruptive” during the flight and got into a profanity-laden confrontation with a male flight attendant, threatening to kill him.

A flight attendant and two passengers restrained her with zip ties.

A mother and her baby who were sitting directly in front of Dasilva switched seats with another passenger for their safety, prosecutors said.

The pilot, who was concerned about the safety of other passengers, decided to divert the flight to Kansas City around 4:20 a.m.

Dasilva appeared in federal court on Monday.

The incident is under investigation by the FBI.

Last month, US Senate and House members proposed a new no-fly list for misbehaving passengers that would allow the Transportation Security Administration to ban people convicted or fined for assaulting or interfering with commercial airline crew members.

The number of mile-high incidents involving unruly passengers have dropped since a judge struck down the COVID-19 mask requirement on planes.

There were only two reported unruly passengers on 10,000 flights for the week ending April 9 this year, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

However, incidents are still a whopping five times higher than before the COVID pandemic hit, leading to airline unions backing the bill.