Attention airline passengers: Your captain kindly requests you fasten your seatbelts, keep your masks on – and this holiday season, please don't be that air traveler from hell.
It's stressful catching planes and dealing with family members, but tempers can run short amid the lingering COVID-19 pandemic.
Responding to a spike in unruly passenger incidents, airline regulator the Federal Aviation Administration in early 2021 adopted a "zero-tolerance" policy that skipped warning letters and went straight to stiff fines, turning around planes and calling law enforcement.
So far this year, more than 5,100 "unruly passenger" incidents have been reported, prompting nearly 1,000 investigations and more than $1 million in fines. The FAA periodically offers descriptions of its most dire incidents with unruly passengers, but doesn't identify flyers hit with fines.
With more than 4 million air passengers expected to slam U.S. airports this Thanksgiving, airlines are asking that you plan ahead, arrive a little early, follow safety and health instructions, exercise patience and generally avoid losing your sh... uh, composure.
Specifically, kindly refrain from protesting mask policy on a crowded flight at the top of your lungs. Do not punch that flight attendant. Do not threaten fellow passengers. And please, only urinate in the toilet.
Here are some incidents involving unidentified passengers from airports serving the Greater Cincinnati region:
Mask rules piss you off? Cross your legs and consider a strongly-worded letter
Masks are required on your face on airplanes and at airports until at least Jan 31. Right now, it's effectively the law. The FAA reports that more than 7 out of 10 unruly passenger incidents were mask-related.
On April 29, an Allegiant Airlines passenger on a flight from Fort Lauderdale to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron refused to wear a mask and clashed with flight attendants. He later registered his vehement disagreement with the federal rule by urinating all over the bathroom floor, which leaked into the galley area.
The result was a $10,500 fine.
Wear the mask; don't threaten or hit new moms
On Feb. 19, a female passenger on a Republic Airlines plane preparing to fly from Indianapolis to Philadelphia was kicked off her flight and fined $18,500.
The unruly passenger repeatedly disregarded instructions to wear her mask or her seat belt. She disrupted the preflight safety announcements and the cabin check by playing loud, obscene music. She also threatened a new mother holding a baby for closing her window shade.
During the taxi, the captain turned the plane around back to the boarding gate. When the captain left the cockpit and told the passenger they were being removed from the plane, the woman cussed the pilot out as she left. She also punched the mother in the back of the head while she held her infant.
Don't back your friends up too far
That Republic flight was eventful. The woman who punched the mom had a friend who also disregarded safety instructions, disrupted takeoff prep and argued with the captain.
The price of her moral support: a $10,000 fine.
Seriously, no fighting and don't double down
After getting busted for smoking in the bathroom on an Allegiant Air flight from Lexington to Fort Lauderdale on Jan 21, a passenger briefly tussled with other travelers on their return flight three days later. She cussed out crew members after they moved her to another seat.
Her fine: $16,700.
Don't kick other passengers either
On March 20, a passenger on an American Airlines flight from Cancun to Indianapolis grew so agitated with the traveler seated behind them that they stood up during the descent and kicked and stomped their feet.
Police were summoned to greet the passenger who was later slapped with a $9,000 fine.
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