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Comment by im_down_w_otp | Hacker News Reader

I think they have zip-tie restraints for wrists and ankles, but I don't know if they have anything available for muzzling.

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That was the only thing about the video that disturbed me. Duct taping the dude to the seat was fine, but putting duct tape over his mouth is super dangerous. He could easily have barfed and been in real trouble.

I would rather have a bag over my head. I've always had a fear of something over my mouth because my allergies are usually so bad I breath through my mouth.

This is a legitimate concern. Someone could have a hard time breathing. That said, what is the option when someone starts shouting obscenities throughout a flight? Tranquilize them?

>That said, what is the option when someone starts shouting obscenities throughout a flight?

Ignoring them until they tire themselves out.

Normal people yes. People hopped on something? I hope they have options, though maybe the best is off board them at the next airport and bill them.

Land at the nearest safe airport and have them removed by law enforcement. Tolerate the noise until then. It won't hurt anyone.

Do they actually need to muzzle people?

How exactly do you suggest restraining someone to a seat who is trying to bite you?

Like imagine you’ve got them on the ground in the aisle and need to get them restrained in a seat… muzzling seems like a good plan to me.

I mean, I'm no expert on restraining, but I think there are ways to restraining a person that attempts to bite you. I don't think the cops are reaching for the ball gag when they need to get someone cuffed and into a seat.

Cops have back seats in their cars with a plexiglass screen and doors that don’t open from the inside. They also have tasers, pepper spray, and batons.

No such thing exists on an airplane so you would have to tie them to the seat somehow.

Flight attendants aren’t exactly know for being big and beefy.

There are generally two methods of restraining a biting person as far as I know. One is to muzzle/duct tape/etc. The other is to bounce their head off the concrete until they stop trying to bite you.

While we could assign airline attendants a concrete block as part of their kit, concrete blocks weigh quite a bit and are not FAA approved.

I therefore recommend we go the duct tape route.

Yeah you have a cop on each arm to stretch them out and lay a third on top of them to drop elbows on their head until they stop.

If they're screaming at the top of their lungs solely to annoy I suspect that's quite reasonable. What's unfortunate here is that a tiny minority of people have ruined domestic travel with their behavior.

It's such a shame that there's no way we could impose some sort of requirement, a sort of passport if you will, on passengers that would eliminate just about all of this. But I can dream.

It's called a class system.

> What's unfortunate here is that a tiny minority of people have ruined domestic travel with their behavior.

Isn't this sort of thing fairly rare? Usually when things are "in the news" it means it fairly uncommon, because if it happens frequently it's no longer "news".

I haven't flown since COVID though, and never any domestic US flights either.

So these incidents seem to happen once every week or two. So is your position here that if there were a commercial passenger airline crash every week or two, people wouldn't and shouldn't reconsider flying?

I haven't flown either and I have no plans to do so in the near future until either a vaccine passport system is imposed or the pandemic ends. I can wait.

If they are attempting to bite people or spitting, definitely yes.

Yes, when they're assaulting you with saliva, a biohazard.

However I think that a ventilated bag over the head is probably safer. Blocking the mouth is risky.

I mean, at the moment in aviation history, they would be wearing a mask. I don't think that's going to be easily removable if you're cuffed.

That exists and I know at least police use them. Called spit hoods.

They use them sometimes, other times they just punch the restrained suspect in the face[1].

[1] https://ktla.com/news/local-news/lapd-officer-under-investig...

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