Labor groups urge Justice Dept. to ramp up prosecutions of unruly passengers.

A coalition of labor unions representing tens of thousands of airline industry workers urged the Justice Department to step up its prosecutions of unruly passengers on Thursday.

Many passenger service agents have been attacked at airport gates, ticket and reservation areas and other airport locations during the Pandemic, and the group asked the Attorney General to prioritize prosecutions of people who assault them.

A spike in violent and disruptive passengers who have refused to follow Covid protocols and attempted to interfere with flight crew has been seen in the airline industry.

The letter said the department has not meaningfully pursued federal penalties against individuals who assault or interfere with passenger service agents. It was signed by the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s Transportation Trades Department, the Association of Flight Attendants-C.W.A. and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

The president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s Transportation Trades Department said he was pleased to see the Justice Department take some steps to address the rise in violent incidents aboard planes, but that more work needed to be done.

Mr. Regan said that leadership from the federal government is important when it comes to violence against transportation professionals.

The letter was not commented on by the Justice Department.

In November, the department said it would prioritize the prosecution of federal crimes on commercial aircraft, but many airline and airport workers are still dissatisfied with the federal government's pace of action. There have been 499 unruly passenger reports since the beginning of the year, but only 80 have been referred to the F.B.I. for criminal review. In the year 2021, there were over 5000 unruly passenger reports.

There have been serious incidents of physical and verbal assault and harassment of passenger service agents over the past few months. The groups pointed to a case at Charlotte Douglas International Airport last year, when an intoxicated passenger physically and verbal assaults gate agents who had denied him access to a flight.

Airline executives and workers recently urged the federal government to add unruly passengers to a no-fly list. The chief executive of Delta Air Lines wrote to Mr. Garland earlier this month in order to address the surge in violence aboard planes and prevent future incidents.

Some Republican senators are not happy with the calls. A group of Republican senators sent a letter to Mr. Garland on Monday arguing that creating a list of people who are on planes would equate them to terrorists.

The creation of this list by D.O.J. would result in a severe restriction on the ability of citizens to engage in interstate transportation.

The union leaders said that disruptive passengers remain a threat to flight attendants and passengers.

Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants-C.W.A., said that they have been punched, kicked, spit on and sexually assaults.