Large fines are to be filed against two violent air passengers over 2021 incidents, setting a new record for the FAA.
The Federal Aviation Adminstration, the government body that oversees everything to do with air traffic, is seeking a combined $159,000 in fines over two violent incidents aboard flights during July 2021.
In one incident, a woman aboard an American Airlines flight struck a flight attendent over the head, tried to open a locked cabin door in flight, and continued to try to injure crew and other passengers even after she was put in flexible handcuffs by the flight crew. She was arrested when her flight landed in Charlotte, North Carolina. The FAA has proposed a fine of $81,950 against the unidentified woman, the highest fine ever proposed by the agency.
In the second incident, only a few days later, a woman aboard a Delta Airlines flight from Las Vegas to Atlanta also tried to open a cabin door in the air. When another passenger tried to stop her, she bit them repeatedly before being retrained by the crew. She too has not been publicly identified. The FAA is seeking $77,272 in her case.
2021 was a bad year for violence aboard airplanes. There were over 5500 violent incidents reported to the FAA that year, a five-fold increase over the usual average. Over a thousand warranted investigations, and the FAA has asked the courts for over $2 million in penalties altogether. 37 cases are being investigated by the FBI.
Flight crews reported that most altercations were either pandemic-related – mostly over masks or political conversation – or race-based, with increased incidents of aggression against travelers of color. Due to the increase in violence, some airlines even suspended in-flight alcohol sales.
The large fines are meant to be punitive, they’re meant to be a deterrent. Flight crews are highly trained in many things, including passenger management, but violence is not a part of their job. If common sense won’t keep hot-tempered passengers in their seat, maybe the threat of a fine equal to more than two years of the average American wage will.
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