The FAA Made a Dark Commercial About Unruly Airline Passengers
The agency has received thousands of complaints about bad behavior.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been flooded with complaints about unruly airline passengers this year, and the agency is fed up. After doling out more than $1 million in fines in the first half of 2021, the FAA released a chilling PSA to get its message across about bad behavior in the skies.
The message is clear. "Unruly behavior doesn't fly." In a tweet containing the video, the FAA revealed it's received 3,988 reports of unruly passengers and 2,928 reports of people refusing to wear a mask. Additionally, 693 investigations were initiated, and 132 cases involved penalties.
The video features real audio from pilots to air traffic controllers, including a pilot's request that authorities come to the scene to deal with an incident. It's part of the FAA's effort to stop unruly passengers from acting out onboard flights, disrupting travel for other passengers, and endangering flight crews.
Just last week, the FAA announced it had slapped 34 passengers with fines totaling $531,545. The massive fines are part of the agency's zero-tolerance policy, launched in response to increased incidents on flights.
In May, the FAA recommended a passenger receive a fine totaling $52,500 after being accused of trying to open the cockpit door, ignoring crew member instructions, and hitting a flight attendant in the face. The flight attendant reportedly got knocked down and threatened by the passenger, who was temporarily restrained before escaping the plastic handcuffs and hitting the same flight attendant again. The passenger was arrested when the plane landed in Seattle.
Other incidents have seen passengers verbally abusing airline crews, shoving, punching, and throwing garbage at them, or kicking parts of the plane. It was also reported that out-of-control passengers destroyed airplane bathrooms more than once.
Of all the incidents, 71% were related to a refusal to comply with mask mandates. Regardless, the Transportation Security Administration has announced that it will be extending its mask mandate into January 2022.