The COVID-19 pandemic has unfortunately evolved alongside another, unforeseen outbreak: a raging tide of unruly airline passengers who have shamelessly let fly everything from expletives to actual punches. Much of the belligerence has stemmed from a refusal by some to comply with the federal mask mandate, as mask-wearing took on political connotations.
America knew we'd crossed over into a new era when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was forced to step in and issue a 'Zero Tolerance' order that authorizes the pursuit of stricter legal action against offenders. The FAA even has a website dedicated to dealing with the rash of unruly airline passengers, where anyone can view the details of individual incidents.
So far this year, there have been 5,114 unruly passenger reports filed, with 3,710 of those incidents being mask-related. One hundred of those disturbance reports have involved physical assault. Unsurprisingly, "Federal law prohibits passengers from assaulting fellow passengers or crew aboard a flight," the FAA said.
While the FAA cannot directly prosecute, it has referred cases to the Department of Justice and even the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the worst cases. According to a Wednesday news release from the FAA, ten (allegedly) particularly troublesome airline passengers are now facing a combined total of $225,287 in civil penalties on various charges of physical assault.
Some of the allegations are in equal measure both horrifying and ridiculous.
-$32,000: A woman who flew aboard a Horizon Air flight from Austin to San Francisco on May 18 refused to fasten her seatbelt, per the crew's instructions; repeatedly punched and screamed at her husband and son; threw trash at a flight attendant and snatched cookies away from another passenger.
-$20,000: A man aboard a January 4 flight from New York to Los Angeles removed his seatbelt and left his seat while the fastened seatbelt light was on, refusing a flight attendant's request that he return to his seat. He then threatened a flight attendant, saying he was going to "[expletive] up his a**", and continued yelling profanities up and down the aisle, even making physical contact with a flight attendant.
-$26,787: Another man who flew Southwest Airlines from New York City to Chicago attempted, during final descent, to enter the cockpit and then, mistakenly believing they were deplaning, attempted to remove his carry-ons from the overhead bin. Flight attendants had to sit him at the back of the plane and hold him down to prevent him injuring himself as the plane touched down. He then began punching one of the flight attendants in the face, who afterward required medical attention.
-$24,000: A woman aboard an American Airlines flight from Tampa to Miami, who refused to wear a facemask and whose group was causing general disruption (to the point that nearby passengers requested seat reassignments) shoved a flight attendant in the chest after the captain requested she be removed from the aircraft.
-$17,500: A man on a November 7 JetBlue flight, bound from Newark to Fort Lauderdale (for some unspecified reason) used profanity and then pushed a crewmember, telling him to "get his fat a** out of my face". The captain diverted the flight was diverted to Richmond, Virginia, where police were waiting for the irate passenger at the gate.
Complaints filed against the rest of the ten unruly passengers on the list range from cursing, threatening and shouting derogatory language to hitting, kicking and spitting on crewmembers.
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