Unruly air passengers hit with $162,000 in fines

People who became disruptive while flying on a variety of flights in the United States this year have faced hefty fines of up to $40,000 each for their behavior, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.

The FAA announced on Monday that it had issued a total of $161,823 in fines to eight disruptive passengers on several different flights who attacked fellow passengers and even sexually assaulted a flight attendant.

The fines are among the highest issued since the agency announced a "zero tolerance'' clampdown on disruptive passengers earlier this year due to a raft of air rage cases.

Since Jan 1, the FAA said that it had received nearly 5,200 reports of disruptive on-board incidents from flight crews. It added that it had received at least 300 reports of passenger disturbances due to alcohol and intoxication.

One passenger was issued with the highest fine of $40,823 for illegally bringing his own alcohol on board a South West Airlines flight in April while he traveled from San Jose, California, to San Diego.

When a flight attendant asked the man to stop drinking, "the passenger sexually assaulted the flight attendant'', the FAA said in a statement.

The out-of-control passenger then went to the lavatory to smoke cannabis. He was later arrested for public intoxication and resisting arrest.

In August, the FAA administrator sent a letter to airports requesting that they work to prevent passengers from bringing "to-go" cups of alcohol aboard aircraft.

Federal law prohibits passengers from consuming alcohol aboard a flight that isn't served by a flight attendant.

In another case in March, a passenger on a Delta Airlines flight from Fort Myers, Florida, to Detroit repeatedly took off his facemask after crewmembers told him multiple times to keep it on.

He swore at other passengers and after crewmembers asked him to calm down, he yelled at one of them, "This is America. This is free speech. What don't you understand?"

Cabin crew reseated the man in the last row and a crewmember sat next to him because he had become a security risk. He appeared to be intoxicated and admitted he had been drinking in the airport before the flight.

He then pointed his finger in a crew member's face and yelled, "You!" The flight diverted to Atlanta where they were met by law enforcement at the gate.

A third passenger on a Jet Blue flight from New York City to Guayaquil, Ecuador was hit with a $17,000 fine by the agency after he allegedly "urinated on the lavatory floor, verbally abused the flight crew, and refused to follow crew instructions to wear a face mask'', the FAA said.

In September, the FAA met with airports, airlines and unions to discuss what additional efforts the FAA and its aviation partners can take to prevent unruly passenger incidents.

Ahead of what is expected to be a busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend, the FAA said that its zero-tolerance campaign against unruly passenger behavior had led to a sharp drop in incidents on flights "but the rate remains too high."

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) expects nearly 20 million passengers to travel during this year's Thanksgiving holiday travel, from Friday, Nov 19 until Sunday, November 28.

While the FAA does not have criminal prosecutorial authority, it is working with the FBI and Department of Justice to refer cases as appropriate.

Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, a union that represents nearly 50,000 flight attendants in the US at 17 airlines, believes that the FAA has been "relentless about communicating the seriousness of air rage incidents". But more needs to be done.

Nelson said in a statement: "Our union continues to call for the creation of a centralized list of violators who will be denied the freedom of flight on all airlines. If a passenger physically assaults crew members or other passengers on one airline, they pose a risk to passengers and crew at every airline. They should be banned from flying on all airlines. Period."