under assault. >> reporter: sarah nelson of the association of flight attendants say the numbers are off the charts. the now 80 total cases referred to the justice department make up only 1% of the 6,480 incidents reported by flight crews since the start of last year. >> until we have people actually landing in jail and understanding that there's real consequences for acting out on a flight, we're not going to see these incidents go down. >> reporter: airlines have asked the justice department to keep unruly passengers from boarding flights. a move eight republican senators say should be up to congress to decide. in a new letter they insist most are related to the federal transportation mask mandate. they say creating a federal no fly list for unruly passengers who are skeptical of this mandate would seemingly equate them to terrorists. pete buttigieg says a no fly list should be considered and