California woman accused in flight attendant attack banned for life by Southwest
A California woman arrested on a charge of battery after allegedly attacking a flight attendant has been banned for life from flying on Southwest Airlines, the airline confirmed.
Vyvianna Quinonez, 28, has been identified by law enforcement as the woman accused of assaulting an attendant on Southwest Flight 700 from Sacramento International Airport as it was preparing to land Sunday at San Diego International Airport.
Witness video shows a woman said to be Quinonez punching a flight attendant in the side of her face, leaving it bloodied. A union president said the passenger knocked out two of the airline employee’s teeth.
Southwest Airlines notified employees Thursday that the passenger involved in the incident has been permanently banned by the airline, the Associated Press first reported that evening.
Southwest spokesman Chris Mainz confirmed the ban to The Sacramento Bee via email Friday morning.
“The disruptive passenger from Sunday’s altercation is restricted from ever flying on Southwest Airlines again, and she has been advised this decision is final,” Mainz wote.
The Port of San Diego Harbor Police Department arrested Quinonez on a felony charge of battery causing serious bodily injury. She was booked Sunday morning into Las Colinas Detention Facility and released about two hours later on $35,000 bail, according to the department.
As of Friday morning, neither San Diego Superior Court nor federal court records showed criminal charges filed against Quinonez.
Quinonez, a resident of Antelope in Sacramento County, did not respond to The Bee’s requests for comment, but told CBS8 in San Diego that she acted in self-defense and would not speak further about the incident without an attorney present.
Michelle Manner, a San Diego resident seated a few rows in front of Quinonez and who recorded video of the first punch being thrown, alleged that the passenger and flight attendant had been engaged in a “two-sided” verbal argument most of the flight.
Though Manner didn’t condone the violence, she told The Bee in a phone interview that the flight attendant had been “provocative” and “very rude and unprofessional the whole flight.”
Lyn Montgomery, the president of TWU Local 556, the union of Southwest flight attendants, wrote in an open letter to airline CEO Gary Kelly earlier this week that the crew member in Sunday’s incident suffered serious injuries to her face and lost two of her teeth.
Montgomery said the attendant, whom she did not want to identify, is recovering.
In her letter, the union leader urged Kelly to address the growing frequency of passenger misconduct incidents on flights, asking him to demand that the government provide a higher number of federal air marshals on Southwest flights.
This story was originally published May 28, 2021 at 7:18 AM.
