Travel demand is back up and airlines are on their way to recovery. Unfortunately, the airline industry also has to deal with the surge of bad behavior on flights. Because of this, the Federal Aviation Administration has been overwhelmed by thousands of cases relating to unruly passengers. 75% are disputes on mask-wearing policy on board.
On Tuesday, FAA announced another set of proposed fines as the agency continues its crackdown on the increasing number of unruly passengers on flights. This time around, a passenger declared fake hijacking and bomb threats while another case involved a passenger who punched a woman who was carrying a baby.
A total of nine passengers were reported with total proposed fines of $119,000. Many of these cases involved passengers who refused to wear masks.
There is currently a federal mask mandate that requires everyone to wear their mask on public transportation including airports, airplanes, and trains. This is in effect until September 13. Apart from the mask mandate, passengers can’t drink their own alcohol.
Since the zero-tolerance policy started, FAA has already proposed $682,000 in total fines on unruly passengers for this year. The agency received a total of 3,271 reports of unruly passengers since January 1. 2,475 were passengers who refused to wear their masks. The latest set of fines proposed by the agency ranged from $7,500 to $21,500.
Airline Group Wants Concrete Action Against Unruly Passengers
Airlines for America, a coalition that represented American, Delta, United, and Southwest, wrote a letter to both FAA and the justice department regarding unruly passengers. The group wanted the justice department to “publicly prosecute” these criminal acts.
Sara Nelson of the Association of Flight Attendants said that there are even some flight attendants who are now concerned to go to work. She said that “This is so pervasive in our workplace that I’m concerned about going to work—I’m actually afraid to go to work”.
