SCHIPHOL - Anyone accused of causing a serious disturbance at either KLM or its budget subsidiary, Transavia, may find themselves banned by both airlines. The two air carriers said they are the first in the world to cooperate by coordinating and sharing such passenger information, a difficult task due to privacy rules even though the airlines share the same parent company. 

“Both airlines will ban unruly passengers for five years, regardless of which airline operated the flight in question,” the airlines said in a statement. Since last week, the airlines can put someone on their joint No Fly List whether the disturbance took place on the ground or in the air. 

KLM said it is processing an average of five complaints which lead to a ban every month, while Transavia is handling another one. Though the number of complaints fell during and immediately after the coronavirus pandemic, “airlines are seeing another surge,” the two companies said. 

Complaints are not limited to physical violence. Transavia specifically noted a recent incident where an 18-year-old Dutch man who had just boarded a flight used Apple’s file sharing system Airdrop to distribute a photo of a plane crash with other passengers sitting in the aircraft. 

“This has been happening more often, most recently on a flight to Croatia. What might be meant as a 'joke' causes huge distress to passengers, including children, and we consider it unacceptable for our crews as well,” said Daan Pijzel, the Vice President of Cabin Operations at Transavia. The passenger was removed from the flight by authorities, and given a five-year ban by Transavia soon after. 

“There is an urgent need for this intervention,” said Paul Terstegge, an executive in charge of inflight service at KLM. “Unruly passengers have a major impact on other passengers and our staff.” 

The airlines have been investigating the plan for some time, but had to figure out how to share data between each other without violating privacy rules. “It took a long time because, although the two airlines are members of the same group, they found themselves dealing with complex and sometimes confusing regulations,” the airlines said. 

They want politicians in the Netherlands and elsewhere to look at their project, and to potentially make it easier for airlines to share data about such matters. “The challenge now is to take this a step further in the Netherlands and, perhaps, across Europe.”