37 Cases Involving Unruly Passengers on Planes Headed to the FBI for Criminal Review

There are roughly 5,000 cases of unruly passengers on planes this year alone. And so far, the Federal Aviation Administration submitted 37 cases to the FBI for criminal review. The referrals are on top of the civil penalties. For this year, the FAA has proposed more than $1 million in civil penalties for bad behavior on planes.

Also, the FAA and the Department of Justice are working together to develop an “efficient method for taking legal actions on the most egregious cases” according to their joint statement on Thursday.

FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said that “Let this serve both as a warning and a deterrent”. In addition to this, he warned that “If you disrupt a flight, you risk not just fines from the FAA but federal criminal prosecution as well”.

The FAA investigated 950 of the more than 5,000 incidents reported. Also, 3,642 cases involved passengers resisting to wear their masks properly onboard. And so far, the FAA has initiated enforcement on 227 cases.

When Does the FAA Refer Cases to the FBI?

If the case supports a criminal review, the FAA sends the cases to the FBI. The FBI will then forward those cases to field offices for additional investigation. According to Dickson’s letter sent to airport officials in August, many of the unruly passengers were “released without criminal charges of any kind”.

In January, the FAA implemented its zero-tolerance policy. Dickson told senators on Wednesday that even if rates dropped, the agency “still got a ways to go”.

He said that “What we’re focused on now is closing the seams between airlines and airports and law enforcement and the federal government handle these issues”. Dickson said that “we’ve made a good bit of progress but we have more to go”.

Last week alone, the Department of Justice announced criminal charges on two separate incidents involving violent passengers. Both cases assaulted flight attendants.

Airlines keep their own list of banned passengers. It is separate from the federal No-Fly list. According to Delta Airlines, it has banned more than 1,600 passengers since the federal government required masks. In September, Delta expressed its interest for other airlines to share their ban lists.