The Federal Aviation Administration is reminding travelers to behave on their flights heading into the busy summer travel season amid a continued rise in cases of unruly passengers.
The FAA said this week it is “cracking down on unruly passengers to make sure the skies are safe for everyone.”
The agency said that there have already been 915 cases of unruly passengers between Jan. 1 and June 9 of this year, including 106 disturbances caused by intoxication.
“Travelers will pay for misbehaving,” the agency said. “The FAA implemented a Zero-Tolerance Policy on Jan. 13, 2021 after seeing a disturbing increase in cases, issuing fines instead of warning letters or counseling.”
In 2021, there were a record 5,973 unruly passenger incident, compared to just 1,161 in 2019 and 1,009 in 2020. The number started trending downward again after that, with 2,455 incidents recorded in 2022 and 2,075 in 2023. Some $7.5 million in fines were levied against unruly passengers in 2023, the FAA said.
The FAA said it will pursue legal enforcement action against “any passenger who assaults, threatens, intimidates, or interferes with airline crewmembers.” The agency can propose civil penalties of up to $37,000 per violation.
Story via TMX