Photo: Getty Images
The Federal Aviation Administration announced that it is proposing $500,000 in fines to unruly passengers, bringing the total amount of penalties to more than $1 million in 2021.
The FAA has received nearly 3,900 complaints about passengers causing trouble while they are flying. A vast majority of the incidents involved passengers who refused to wear a mask. In a typical year, the agency deals with between 100 and 150 incidents of bad behavior.
The largest proposed fine was $45,000 and involved a passenger on a JetBlue flight from New York to Orlando. The pilot was forced the make an emergency landing after the passenger started throwing objects at other passengers and lying on the aisle floor. While he was on the floor, he allegedly grabbed the ankles of a flight attendant and looked up her skirt.
Another passenger was fined $42,000 for allegedly snorting cocaine while on a JetBlue flight from New York to San Francisco. In addition to the allegations he used cocaine, the passenger also refused to wear a mask and fought with members of the flight crew, who armed themselves with ice mallets and detained him with flex cuffs.
As the number of incidents has increased this year, the FAA urged airports to work more closely with local law enforcement officials to detain and prosecute passengers who cause trouble.
"As the number of passengers traveling has increased, so has the number of unruly and unsafe behavior incidents on planes and in airports," FAA Administrator Steve Dickson wrote in a letter to airports. "The FAA adopted a Zero-Tolerance policy toward this behavior on airplanes earlier this year, and we are taking the strongest possible action within our legal authority. But we need your help."