Skift Take
While the numbers of unruly passengers are small, the fines are huge and so can the damage disruptive flyers leave in their wake. As airlines continue revving up for the return to travel, they need to ensure these types of dangerous distractions don't impede bottom lines or customer satisfaction.
Since February, the Federal Aviation Administration has levied a total of $381,000 in fines and civil penalties against 21 airline passengers for unruly behavior on board planes, fining each at least $9,000. This came after the FAA in January adopted a zero-tolerance policy for unruly behavior inflight following the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
But it seems to have been little deterrent, perhaps in large part because so few people actually got hit with fines.
The penalties include three passengers fined $15,000 each on Monday for misbehaving on flights in January and February, one passenger who was fined $10,500 for refusing to wear a mask, cursing at a flight attendant and delaying a flight in March and another fined $9,000 for mask noncompliance, the FAA said.
Since January, the FAA has received approximately 2,500 reports of unruly behavior by passengers, including about 1,900 reports of passengers refusing to comply with the federal face mask mandate, the FAA said on Monday. So far it has only fined 21 of those unruly passengers.
But this has been a problem since the beginning of the pandemic and even as vaccines go into place and the world makes steps toward returning to normal, passengers aren't getting any less unruly.
From sneaking alcohol on the aircraft, mask noncompliance, and lewd language to bomb threats, assaults, and charging the cockpit, the stories read like a ficti
