FAA is Busy with Over 1,300 Unruly Passengers & Numerous Fines from Rowdy Passengers
This week, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported two more civil penalties are in process for travelers who interfered with airline crews. The two new cases are just the tip of a growing mountain of fines from the FAA, which launched a zero-tolerance policy against rowdy passengers a few months ago, oftentimes for refusing to wear federally mandated masks.
The zero-tolerance FAA policy was launched in January and included new rules warning that unruly passengers will not be tolerated and that any disruptive actions will lead straight to enforcement actions.
FAA Administrator Steve Dickson launched the official zero-tolerance order right after the January 6 Capital Hill attack. Trump supporters were reported by airlines to be disruptive on numerous flights across the US at the same time as the fatal attack on Capital Hill by protestors.
When the policy was announced in January, the FAA released a statement saying, "The agency will pursue legal enforcement action against any passenger who assaults, threatens, intimidates, or interferes with airline crew members. This policy will be in effect through March 30, 2021."
The FAA has the legal power to levy civil penalties but has allowed law enforcement to weigh whether or not there should be criminal charges made against passengers. If passengers incur civil penalties, the FAA noted, they will receive due process.
Currently, more than 1,300 complaints are registered with the FAA regarding unruly passengers, mostly for causing problems such as refusing to follow the federally regulated mandate to wear masks on board during the flight, or for other issues such as swearing at flight attendants or the flight crew.
Of the 1,300 complaints made by US airlines against disruptive passengers, the FAA said it had discovered about 260 likely violations.
Currently, about twenty enforcement actions are in process, with more expected, according to the FAA.
The FAA reports that in 2021 alone, proposed civil penalties amount to as high as $30,000 for specific cases, including new penalties imposed against a dozen new passengers over the past month. Fined passengers can protest the fines.
The zero policy remains in place to this day, and Dickson has said the FAA plans to extend a "zero-tolerance policy" on unruly air passengers indefinitely. Dickson states most of the reports of unruly passengers filed by airlines since December were about passengers refuging to wear masks.
Dickson added that when the federal mandate to wear masks ends, the FAA will no longer request passengers wear them during flights.
On Friday, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said operators had reported about 2,000 passengers for refusing to wear a face mask since the federal mandate was launched.
US Airlines, which required all passengers to wear masks before the 2021 federal mandate, has banned about 3,000 passengers from its flights due to their refusal to wear masks.
Delta Airlines reported it had banned over 1,200 passengers who refuse to wear masks on future flights but hasn't reported them to the FAA.
