Fines For Disruptive Plane Passengers, Often Over Masks, Have Reached $1 Million
Officials have already fined unruly airline passengers upward of $1 million in civil penalties this year, and many of those citations are related to aggressive refusal to wear masks as required by federal rules.
The Federal Aviation Administration announced in a news release that since the beginning of the year, the agency has received around 3,889 reports of passengers behaving badly, and around 2,867 — more than 70% — were related to individuals failing to comply with mask mandates and causing a disruption as a result.
During a flight from New York to California in May, an unnamed male passenger not only refused to wear a mask, but then allegedly began harassing other passengers: he threw a playing card at one person and began making "stabbing gestures" at others aboard the aircraft, according to the report. He then snorted what looked to be cocaine out of a plastic bag and continued to be unruly, prompting the crew to arm themselves with mallets used for crushing ice and zip-ties in the event that they had to restrain him.
Many of the 34 incidents described by the FAA are similar. In April, a woman flying from Massachusetts to Florida refused to wear a mask and was met by police at the gate after she shouted curses at the crew and punched another passenger in the face. A man flying to Kentucky from Florida the same month also refused to wear a mask, and then peed on the floor of the plane bathroom, letting urine leak into the kitchen area.
The FAA has a zero-tolerance policy in regard to unruly behavior from customers. Fines for airline passenger misconduct cited in this week's report range from $7,500 to $45,000.
The CDC began requiring face masks on all forms of public transport in January 2021 and that mandate does still include indoor areas like the interiors of planes and buses; outdoor transportation areas are, however, exempt.
Despite the well-posted rules, as airlines began to see an influx of passengers this year as compared to 2020, they also saw a jump in the number of disruptive incidents, according to an FAA letter issued to airlines earlier this month. [Copyright 2021 NPR]
