FAA Levies $119,000 in Civil Penalties Against Nine Unruly Passengers

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has released a new public service announcement on the heels of issuing $119,000 in civil penalties against nine passengers for alleged violations of federal regulations against unruly behavior.

As part of the FAA’s Zero Tolerance campaign, the brief video shows children explaining how to behave on an airplane, mostly pointing out what not to do and expressing their disgust with adult passengers who can’t act responsibly.

In the nine cases announced on Tuesday, proposed penalties range from $7,500 to $21,500. Many of the incidents involved individuals consuming alcohol and or refusing to properly wear a face mask and becoming disruptive.

However, in one instance this past January, an Alaska Airlines passenger on a flight from Seattle to Ketchikan, Alaska allegedly called 911 to report a fake hijacking as the plane was preparing to depart from the gate before later calling in a bomb threat to the FBI, resulting in a multi-hour delay ($10,500). In another case in February, a woman who was being escorted off of a Republic Airways flight from Indianapolis to Philadelphia allegedly punched another female passenger who was holding a baby in the back of the head ($18,500).

The biggest penalty, $21,500 was levied against a Frontier Airlines passenger traveling from Nashville to Orlando in late December 2020. “The FAA alleges the passenger drank alcohol that Frontier did not serve, which is against FAA regulations. He refused to comply with a flight attendant’s instruction to stop drinking the alcohol and wear a facemask.” the agency stated. “The FAA further alleges the passenger began fighting with the flight attendant and nearby passengers about the facemask policy. The flight attendant issued the passenger a ‘red card’ for failing to comply with the facemask instructions, but he continued to argue with nearby passengers, ultimately striking the passenger next to him on the head.”

Since the start of 2021, the FAA has received approximately 3,271 reports of unruly behavior by passengers, a majority of which (2,475 reports) have been for passengers refusing to comply with the federal facemask mandate. In the past six months alone, the FAA has identified potential violations in 540 cases and has initiated enforcement action in at least 83 cases, proposing more than $682,000 in fines against unruly passengers.