Mid-Air Attack: Flight Attendant Strikes Crew, U.S. Marshals

An American Airlines flight attendant attacked fellow crew members and U.S. marshals during an international flight and now faces federal charges, according to an affidavit signed by a marshal aboard the flight from North Carolina to Germany.

Joanne Snow has been charged with interference with flight crew members and attendants and assault on an officer or employee of the United States after she allegedly slapped flight attendants, shoved and struck a U.S. marshal and then kicked him as she was arrested after the plane landed, the affidavit said.

She was due in federal court Tuesday at 2 p.m., according to the Charlotte Observer.

Joseph D. Fialka, a federal air marshal, signed the affidavit, which details Fialka’s account of flight 704 on November 23 and flight 705 back to Charlotte the next day.

Before the first flight took off, attendants told Fialka they were worried about Snow, and Fialka says Snow told him she was “’crazy’ and a ’train wreck.’” When the doors closed and the plane was still on the ground, Fialka said a flight attendant told him Snow had slapped her in the face.

Once the flight was in the air, Snow shoved Fialka “several times on my right shoulder and upper arm,” then went to the back of the plane where she “grabbed the collar of the clothing of Federal Air Marshal Lisa Teal,” he said.

Fialka was talking to Snow with a third U.S. marshal when Snow “stuck me with an open palm twice on the upper part of my right chest,” he said.

Things didn’t go much better on the return flight.

Snow “appeared to be mentally unstable” during the return flight from Frankfurt, Fialka said. When the plane landed, and the crew was going through customs, Fialka said she started yelling, including, “The Air Marshals are gonna get me!”

After Fialka put Snow in handcuffs and took her to an interview room, “she kicked me approximately five or six times striking both my legs,” he said.

“We are aware of the incident, along with the subsequent criminal complaint, and take this matter very seriously,” American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein said in an email to Patch. “We are cooperating fully with federal law enforcement in their investigation, and are working directly with our employees. The safety and security of our customers and employees is always the top priority.”

• Read Fialka’s full affidavit here.