Serial killers are usually referred to by 3 names. What does 4 names say about an airline passenger?

31-year old Cody Sierra Marie Bryne body checked a flight attendant, pulled a Delta agent’s hair and twisted her breast while trying to travel from Salt Lake City to Portland on Thursday.

During board of the flight, she refused to clear the aisle depsite repeated instructions from a flight attendant. When she finally moved, she shoulder‑checked the crewmember into a seat. The captain ordered her off the aircraft.

Once escorted off the aircraft and back in the concourse, she tried to run into a secure area but was blocked by airline staff. That’s when she grabbed a Delta employee by the neck, pulled her hair, and then grabbed and twisted her breast.

After leaving the gate area, she ran toward the exit and was found trying to book a ticket on another airline. Naturally, she resisted arrest and two officers were needed to cuff her. Officers and staff noted the smell of alcohol odor, difficulty following directions (you think?), trouble walking, and that she had admitted drinking “three beers” earlier. The woman was charged with:

• sexual battery (class‑A misdemeanor)
  
• ssault (class‑B misdemeanor)
  
• interfering with a peace officer
  
• public intoxication.

According to Delta Air Lines,

Delta has zero tolerance for abusive, disruptive or unlawful behavior on our flights. The safety and security of our customers and crew is our highest priority, and we take all incidents seriously. While we do not comment on pending litigation, we are fully cooperating with law enforcement as the investigation proceeds.

Bryne was held at Salt Lake County Metro Jail and is expected in court this week. Because this occurred during boarding and then in the terminal, prosecutors charged state misdemeanors. She doesn’t face federal charges, as would have been the case if this had gone down inflight.

It’s always amazed me that airports sell so much alcohol before flights. Ryanair wants to limit that, of course they don’t want to limit their own alcohol sales onboard they just don’t want the competition.

During the pandemic, when airlines stopped serving alcohol onboard, there was a big raise in pregaming and also passengers bringing their own alcohol onto the aircraft. It turns out that serving alcohol on the plane is actually a way to manage consumption.

Several airlines have tried to get airport vendors to stop selling alcohol ‘to go’ on the theory that the only place you’re going to bring it is onto the plane, and that’s illegal. Of course you might also just bring it to your gate.

What airlines should be doing is properly staffing their gates so that gate agents are able to fulfill all of the standard duties – from properly processing upgrades, to boarding passengers and policing carry-on bags, to noticing when a passenger is about to ride the porcelein bus and deny them boarding. The drive to cut back on staffing costs has unintended consequences.