Charges Filed Against Woman Accused of Punching Flight Attendant on San Diego-Bound Plane

A 29-year-old woman accused of attacking a flight attendant on a San Diego-bound plane earlier this year — causing her to lose two teeth — was charged in federal court Wednesday with assault, documents show.

The woman, Vyvianna Quinonez, was also charged with interfering with flight crew members and attendants, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego.

Quinonez is due in court Sept. 17. Her attorney, Knut Johnson, said he had no comment, other than to say his client will plead not guilty.

A passenger on the Southwest Airlines flight from Sacramento recorded 44 seconds of the May 23 encounter, which happened shortly before the plane touched down at San Diego International Airport.

The cellphone video, shot by San Diego resident Michelle Manner, shows a passenger springing from her backrow aisle seat and punching the flight attendant. The passenger then grabs the attendant's hair and keeps swinging. Another passenger jumps in, wedges between them and yells at the woman who threw the punches to sit down.

The video quickly went viral amid increasing reports of bad behavior by airline passengers. About two weeks ago, the Federal Aviation Administration said it had fielded nearly 3,900 complaints about unruly passenger behavior this year, including more than 2,800 reports of failure to comply with mask mandates. Passenger fines this year just topped $1 million.

The criminal complaint filed against Quinonez includes a two-page probable-cause statement laying out what authorities allege happened during the encounter. The statement indicates there were two recordings of parts of the encounter — one made by an unidentified passenger and one made by Quinonez herself.

According to the statement, the flight attendant asked Quinonez to fasten her seat belt and put up her tray table, and also to wear her face mask properly. The attendant then returned to her jump seat as the plane landed.

Quinonez began filming the flight attendant, who got up and approached Quinonez. The statement alleges that Quinonez pushed the flight attendant.

That's about when the bystander video picked up the encounter.

Manner told The San Diego Union-Tribune later that she saw the flight attendant argue with Quinonez and another passenger about the need to wear facemasks. She suspected the argument could reignite, so she kept her phone on her lap and hit record a few minutes later as the punches started.

The captain held the plane from taxiing into the gate until Harbor Police arrived to escort Quinonez from the plane in San Diego. According to the probable-cause statement, she told police she had acted in self-defense. Quinonez was detained, and later bailed out of jail.

The flight attendant suffered bruises and a cut that required four stitches. Three of her teeth were chipped — two of them damaged so badly they had to be repaired with crowns.

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.

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