Maryland man pleads guilty to punching airline gate agent at Dulles International Airport
A Maryland man pleaded guilty to assaulting an airline gate agent at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The incident happened on March 13.
Christopher Crittenden, 54, of Frederick, who had been drinking alcohol, became irate about a delay and his seating assignment for his flight from Washington Dulles International Airport. He began shouting expletives at a gate agent, prosecutors said.
The agent informed the flight captain, who was on the jet bridge, that Crittenden was likely intoxicated and was verbally harassing airline staff.
The captain came to the gate to speak with Crittenden and ultimately informed him that he could not fly on the plane, according to court documents.
Then, Crittenden punched the agent in the face, temporarily knocking him unconscious. He also attempted to punch another gate agent, according to prosecutors.
Crittenden is scheduled to be sentenced on October 9 and faces up to 10 years in prison.
Maryland woman accused of child abuse on flight
A similar incident happened in June when a Maryland woman was accused of hitting a teen who made fun of her weight on a flight from Orlando.
According to charging documents, Kristy Crampton, 46, began hitting a child with her fist and then a water bottle, before slamming his head into the airplane window.
Crampton reportedly told authorities the teen became disrespectful during their trip to Disney World, and when they got onto the plane, they got into an argument and the teen began calling Crampton "fat" and "Miss Piggy."
A witness told police the "woman was not correcting the child, she was abusing him, whipping the [expletive] out of the kid."
Police did not detail Crampton's relationship to the child.
Decline in unruly passengers
The FAA has tracked 835 reports of unruly passengers this year. The agency said it has a "zero tolerance" policy for unruly and dangerous behavior.
In January 2021, former FAA administrator Steve Dickson signed an order tightening enforcement against unruly passengers due to what the FAA called "troubling incidents."
In 2021, the FAA received a total of 5,973 unruly passenger reports. That number dropped to 2,455 in 2022, a decrease of 59%, and has steadily declined since.
