The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed another set of fines against unruly air passengers. This time around, the agency proposed more than $160,000 in fines for cases involving alcohol.
According to the agency, it received almost 300 reports of “passenger disturbances due to alcohol and intoxication” this year. The fines ranged from around $8,000 to more than $40,000.
Southwest and American Refuses to Sell Alcohol
Southwest and American Airlines announced that they won’t sell alcohol on flights until 2022. Unfortunately, this didn’t stop some passengers from bringing their own alcohol.
Included in the proposed penalties over $160,000 is a Southwest passenger who received a fine of $40,823. The passenger drank his own alcohol and later “sexually assaulted the flight attendant” and “entered the lavatory and smoked marijuana”. Then, there is the JetBlue Airlines passenger last April who urinated on the plane’s lavatory floor and verbally abused the crew. The JetBlue passenger “drank alcohol that the airline did not serve to him”. This passenger received a $17,000 fine.
Despite the number of unruly intoxicated passengers, United Airlines started selling hard liquor placed inside miniature bottles. Hard liquor is available on flights over 300 miles.
Flight Attendants Calls for More Action Against Unruly Passengers
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA has appealed to the government, airlines, and airports in September to do more to reduce incidents involving unruly passengers. During a congressional hearing, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA proposed actions that can reduce unruly passenger incidents.
This includes banning to-go alcohol sold at the airport, airlines sharing their no-fly list, and federal criminal prosecution.
As of November 16, the agency received 5,240 unruly passenger reports. 3,798 involved masks. Given this number, there’s an average of 5.6 reported cases involving unruly passengers for every 10,000 flights. Just last week, the agency proposed over $200,000 in fines against 10 violent passengers. The FAA already proposed more than $1 million in fines since it announced its zero-tolerance policy on unruly passengers.
