Flight attendant loses teeth after assault. Sacramento passenger accused of attack

A female passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight that took off from Sacramento allegedly attacked a flight attendant, and a union leader said the attendant lost two teeth in the assault.

The incident happened Sunday on Flight 700 from Sacramento International Airport to San Diego, Southwest spokesman Chris Mainz confirmed to The Sacramento Bee in an emailed response.

“The passenger repeatedly ignored standard in-flight instructions ... and became verbally and physically abusive upon landing,” Mainz wrote.

Law enforcement took the woman — later identified as Vyvianna Quinonez, 28, of Antelope — into custody upon arrival at Lindbergh Field, Mainz said.

TWU Local 556, the union of Southwest flight attendants, said the attendant lost teeth.

“This past weekend, one of our flight attendants was seriously assaulted, resulting in injuries to the face and a loss of two teeth,” union president Lyn Montgomery wrote in an open letter Monday to Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly.

“Harbor Police officers met the aircraft at the gate and began an investigation,” Port of San Diego Harbor Police said in a Tuesday afternoon release. “According to witnesses, an altercation between a passenger and a flight attendant had taken place during the flight. During the altercation, the passenger struck the flight attendant, causing serious injuries.”

Police said the attendant, who was not identified, was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital for treatment.

Montgomery’s letter aired broader concerns, saying Sunday’s incident was just one dramatic example from a wave of “passenger misconduct” incidents. Montgomery wrote there were nearly 500 misconduct incidents on Southwest flights. between April 8 and May 15.

Montgomery also referenced reports over the past year of passengers on multiple different airlines becoming combative with flight crews over enforcement of COVID-19 protocols, particularly the federal mask mandate on airplanes. Mainz said in response to a follow-up question from The Bee that this was not the case for Sunday’s incident.

“Reports indicate it was over instructions for putting the tray table up, fastening seat belt, etc. Not mask-related,” he wrote.

A passenger who witnessed the altercation posted video of the aftermath in a public Facebook post.

“As we are pulling up to the gate, a woman in the back row took off her seat belt and stood up,” Facebook user Susan Marie Stidham wrote. “The flight attendant told her to keep her seat belt fastened while we were still moving. What I saw was the flight attendant in the front suddenly start screaming ‘ No, No, No! Stop!’ and running toward the back.”

Stidham’s brief video shows a woman in leopard-print pants and a surgical mask being quietly led off the plane by an officer.

The video doesn’t show the assault or the victim, but Stidham wrote that the flight attendant, whom she wrote in another post was also a woman, “was staggering back with a bloody face.”

Montgomery, the union leader, called the misconduct issue “intolerable” and urged that Kelly demand the U.S. government provide a higher number of federal air marshals on flights, asking him to “please think of your front-line workers.”

“The last year has brought many unknowns, and much has been out of our control,” Montgomery wrote. “Please keep your crews in mind and understand the impact of today’s environment on our crews’ working conditions.”

Quinonez was charged with felony battery causing serious bodily injury and was booked and released from Las Colinas Detention Facility. It’s unclear if she will face federal charges including interfering with a flight attendant, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.