There’s been plenty of talk about no-fly lists over the past year. This has been because of the horrible behavior people have been exhibiting on planes by acting like privileged idiots and refusing to follow mask rules. Behaving badly on a plane can end up with you being placed on that specific airline’s no-fly list. These lists are airline-specific so you can be banned from Delta but still fly with United.
The FAA has recently adopted a zero-tolerance policy about misbehaving on planes.
Passengers who interfere with, physically assault, or threaten to physically assault aircraft crew or anyone else on an aircraft face stiff penalties, including fines of up to $35,000 and imprisonment. This dangerous behavior can distract, disrupt, and threaten crewmembers’ safety functions.
However, there is one list that can keep you from getting on any flight in the United States. It’s the No Fly List from the TSA.
No Fly List
The No Fly List is a small subset of the U.S. government Terrorist Screening Database (also known as the terrorist watchlist) that contains the identity information of known or suspected terrorists. This database is maintained by the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center. For more information about the Terrorist Screening Database, visit the Terrorist Screening Center.
TSA is among the U.S. government agencies that screen individuals using information from the Terrorist Screening Database. TSA implements the No Fly List through its Secure Flight program. Individuals on the No Fly List are prevented from boarding an aircraft when flying within, to, from and over the United States.
Until recently, the only people on this list were those on the FBI’s terrorist watchlist.
That was, until January 6, 2021, when an insurrectionist mob stormed the US Capitol. While nothing is yet confirmed, there are rumors that those who took part may be added to the TSA no-fly list. In the meantime, airlines have been adding names of those who caused disturbances onboard or who have been identified as rioters to their respective no-fly lists.
With the TSA possibly banning these people from flying because of their act of domestic terrorism, what’s their next move? Maybe they’ll decide to take a train instead.
That’s why two unions representing AMTRAK workers are asking the government to extend the same rules for passengers on airplanes to people traveling by rail. Currently, there’s no federal law about assaulting train workers and very little security.
“Even as of this hour, the only real requirement for a person to board a train is simply to have a ticket; nothing more, nothing less. There is no screening process. There is no TSA. And there are no significant statutes or regulations to penalize those willing to interfere with a train’s crew or to do harm on a train, especially not when compared to the airline industry,” the unions’ presidents, Jeremy Ferguson and Dennis Pierce, said in a joint statement, referring to the Transportation Security Administration.
AMTRAK’s CEO echoed the union’s feelings with this statement:
There is nothing more important than the safety of our employees. Since the start of the pandemic, our dedicated frontline employees have kept our trains running, providing a vital transportation service to essential workers. We join our labor partners in continuing to call upon Congress and the Administration to make assaults against rail workers a Federal crime, as it is for aviation workers, and to expand the TSA’s “No Fly List” to rail passenger service.
These requests will undoubtedly be taken seriously by the new administration because of Joe Biden’s strong commitment to AMTRAK and its employees after Biden commuted between Delaware and Washington D.C. by train for 36 years.
Of course, letting AMTRAK use the list to keep people off trains only makes sense if those who participated in the attack on the Capitol building are placed on the TSA’s No-Fly list.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
