FAA fines 34 passengers USD 532,000 for unruly behaviour

Dhaka: The Federal Aviation Administration on August 19 said they are proposing USD 532,000 in fines against 34 airline passengers who have been accused of disrupting flights.

This includes a person who threw a carry-on bag at other passengers, another who snorted what appeared to be cocaine and another who hid a flight attendant’s jacket.

The FAA summaries of the cases portray passengers who are adamant to not wear masks, intent on drinking their own alcohol or vaping, and behave abusively to other travellers and airline crews.

The proposed fines bring the total fine that the agency has sought to impose this year to more than USD 1 million.

The agency says it has received 3,889 reports of unruly passengers this year — 2,867 of them related to a mask mandate intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus. 23 of the 34 new cases with proposed fines involve passengers accused of not complying with the mask rule, which this week was extended into January 2022.

The FAA launched the crackdown on misbehavior in the air at the beginning of the year amid conflicts over masks and concerns about people travelling to and from Washington during the week of the Capitol riot. The agency has asked airports to work closely with police to help bring criminal charges in the most egregious cases.

The new cases point to now-familiar sources of problems in the air, particularly disputes over masks. Eight of the new cases involve passengers accused of drinking alcohol not served by airlines, coming days after the FAA asked airports to try to stop passengers from bringing to-go drinks aboard planes. A handful of cases involving vaping, which, like smoking, is not allowed on planes.

However, the vast number of cases the FAA is pursuing has strained the ability of federal authorities to hold people accountable. A passenger has 30 days to respond when the agency proposes a fine, and in mid-July the FAA said it had resolved seven cases. Some could take years to play out.