Unruly passengers remain an issue on flights despite significant drop from pandemic peak

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) expects millions to fly for the Labor Day holiday and airlines are already dealing with some turbulence like disruptions 30,000 feet in the air.

The Federal Aviation Administration reports the rate of unruly passenger incidents has dropped by more than 80 percent since record highs in 2021 when pandemic-era mask mandates sparked many incidents.

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But the agency has also received 1,423 reports from airlines for rowdy passenger behavior so far this year.

“Any unruly passenger incident is one too many. but I also think that we fly a lot of people without issue,” said Jeff Price, aviation professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Price said there isn’t usually any law enforcement presence on flights and he believes some passengers may not acknowledge flight attendants as authority figures.

“The flight attendant is there for their safety and security, so [passengers] do need to be paying attention to them and listening to them and doing what they’re what they’re asked to do,” said Price.

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The FAA says the most serious cases are sent to the FBI for criminal prosecution review. The agency has referred 43 unruly passenger incidents so far this year.

Several cases involved passengers who sexually or physically assaulted another traveler or a crew member. Others were reported for threatening or aggressive behavior.

“By seeing more of these cases go to the FBI, by seeing more of them being prosecuted, lets other people know that you’re being watched,” said Price.

He adds that an unruly passenger can distract the flight crew from their primary job of getting you to your destination safely.

“All of that needs to be balanced, too, with good judgment on the part of the flight crew as to whether was this a real issue that I need to report, or is this something that just somebody was getting upset and they verbally deescalated, and that’s fine,” said Price.

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Passengers can face tens of thousands of dollars in fines and even jail time for bad behavior on flights. IN 2023 alone, the FAA issued $7.5 million in fines for unruly passengers.

The FBI has created a Crimes Aboard Aircraft section on their How Can We Help You page, with information about the types of crimes it investigates and how people can report them.

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