Etiquette

FAA fines flyers for punching, biting, & being truly unruly

A lot of airline passengers have been misbehaving. Madly.

Since January 1, 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has received approximately 3,889 reports of unruly behavior by passengers. That includes about 2,867 reports of passengers refusing to comply with the federal facemask mandate. (The mask mandate that was just extended until January).

The FAA can fine passengers for this behavior and the agency is doing just that.

This week the FAA proposed $531,545 in civil penalties against 34 airline passengers for alleged unruly behavior. That brings the total for 2021 to more than $1 million.

Most of the fines involve the refusal to comply with the mask mandate. But many passengers are also being fined for outrageous and often bizarre behavior.

Here are some examples of the most outrageous incidents from a list released by the FAA this week:

* $45,000 against a passenger flying on a May 24, 2021, JetBlue Airways flight from New York, N.Y., to Orlando, FL., for allegedly throwing objects, including his carry-on luggage, at other passengers; refusing to stay seated; lying on the floor in the aisle, refusing to get up, and then grabbing a flight attendant by the ankles and putting his head up her skirt. The passenger was placed in flexi-cuffs and the flight made an emergency landing in Richmond, VA.

*$42,000 against a passenger on a May 16, 2021, JetBlue Airways flight from Queens,  N.Y., to San Francisco, Calif., for allegedly interfering with crewmembers after failing to comply with the facemask mandate. This passenger was also cited for making non-consensual physical contact with another passenger, throwing a playing card at a passenger and threatening him with physical harm. The was more: the passenger was making stabbing gestures towards certain passengers and was snorting what appeared to be cocaine from a plastic bag, which the cabin crew confiscated. The passenger became increasingly agitated and the crew equipped themselves with flex cuffs and ice mallets to ensure the safety of the flight if his behavior worsened. The flight diverted to Minneapolis, Minn., where law enforcement removed the passenger from the aircraft.

*$32,500 against a passenger on a Jan. 2, 2021, Southwest Airlines flight from Orlando, Fla., to Kansas City, Mo., for allegedly assaulting passengers around him because someone in his row would not change seats to accommodate his travel partner.

The passenger told his travel partner he would need to bail him out of jail for the physically violent crimes he threatened to commit. The captain returned the flight to the gate, and law enforcement met the passenger. Southwest banned the passengers from flying with the carrier in the future.

*$30,000 against a passenger on a Jan. 3, 2021, Frontier Airlines flight from Atlanta, Ga., to New York, N.Y., for allegedly interfering with the flight attendants’ deplaning procedures upon arrival. This person tried to gain entry to the flight deck by physically assaulting two flight attendants, threatening to kill one of them, and demanding that they open the door. The captain called for law enforcement to meet him after exiting.

*$25,500 against a passenger on a March 11, 2021, Frontier Airlines flight from Orlando, Fla., to Providence, R.I., for allegedly repeatedly kicking the aircraft bulkhead; screaming obscenities at the passenger next to her; locking herself in the lavatory for 30 minutes; yelling obscenities at the flight attendant after they informed her through the lavatory door that the captain turned the fastened seatbelt sign on and she must return to her seat; throwing corn nuts at passengers and shoving both her middle fingers in the flight attendant’s face when they instructed her to stop throwing the nuts. The passenger was issued a “red card” notice, and in response, she again put both her middle fingers in the flight attendant’s face. Law enforcement removed her from the flight upon arrival.

 The list, and the fines, go on – and on – and are part of what the FAA has dubbed its Zero Tolerance campaign against unruly passenger behavior. The agency has requested that airports work more closely with local law enforcement to prosecute egregious cases and asked airports to do what they can to stop passengers from trying to bring their “to-go” cups of alcohol aboard aircraft.




Airplane etiquette. From kids.

Courtesy FAA

We’re all delighted that travel is getting back to some sort of normal. And it is understandable that we’re all a bit rusty about our airplane etiquette.

But, already, airlines, the Federal Aviation Administration, rule-abiding passengers, and TSA have had it up to here with passengers refusing to wear masks, acting out, and being offensive on airplanes.

Some say the uptick in low behavior has to do with so many people being on edge about traveling after being cooped up for so long. But that’s hardly an excuse for some of the stories that are being shared round.

So if unruly passengers won’t listen to flight attendants, pilots, and other passengers about how to behave on a plane, perhaps they’ll listen to kids from this FAA video.

Travel Tidbits from JFK and LAX

For the next four months, 14 hand-drawn, large-scale illustrations of iconic New York city locations, such as the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty, can be seen in the corridors of Terminal 4 at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The work is hand-drawn by British-based artist Chris Dent and also includes 18 smaller illustrations of NYC staples such as subway trains, taxis, slices of pizza and coffee cups.

National Employee Appreciation Month is being marked at Los Angeles International Airport with a Gold Star recognition program that celebrates employees who provide great service.

To make it easy for travelers to nominate a badged LAX employee, the airport has created a web form.  Nominations can also be made by texting STAR to 52948. Anyone who works for the airport, airlines, concessions, service providers, TSA and Customs are eligible.

To encourage travelers to particpate,  LAX Guest Services staff will be in the terminals next week sharing information – and handing out goodies.

Twitter uproar over United Airlines “leggings-gate”

 

Debate rippled through the Twitter-verse – and beyond – on Sunday when a United Airlines gate agent told two girls flying on United employee passes that they could not board the plane wearing leggings.

Shannon Watts, founder of the anti-gun violence group MomsDemand, overhead part of the discussion and sent out a multi-part tweet to her followers.

After asking  if Watts was speaking with the passenger, United’s social media team initially tweeted that the airline had the right to refuse transport to passenger “not properly clothed.”

Then the airline learned that the ‘spandex girls’ were flying on a United employee pass, which comes with a dress code.

United’s dress code explanation – and subsequent comments by higher-up PR staff, came after Twitter was flooded with comments by people who were upset over girls being told what they could or could not wear – even when flying on free employee passes.

As you may imagine, the story was covered extensively throughout the day.

Here are good recaps from CNN, from the Runway Girl Network, from Flight Chic , and others, including flight attendant and author Heather Poole –

And a final word from United:

 

You’re not the only one on the plane

Wouldn’t it be be great if there was lots and lots of room between  you and the other people on the plane?

Rarely happens. So everyone just tries to get along and goes out of their way to not irritate their fellow passengers, right?

Fat chance.

According to the results of Expedia’s latest Airplane Etiquette Study – which polled Americans on the behaviors that most infuriate them when other passenger do them – rear-seat kicking bugs people the most.

The full ranked list of onboard etiquette violators includes:

  1. The Rear Seat Kicker (cited by 64 percent of respondents)
  2. Inattentive Parents (59 percent)
  3. The Aromatic Passenger (55 percent)
  4. The Audio Insensitive (49 percent)
  5. The Boozer (49 percent)
  6. Chatty Cathy (40 percent)
  7. The Queue Jumper (35 percent)
  8. Seat-Back Guy (35 percent)
  9. The Armrest Hog (34 percent)
  10. Pungent Foodies (30 percent)
  11. The Undresser (28 percent)
  12. The Amorous (28 percent)
  13. The Mad Bladder (22 percent)
  14. The Single and Ready to Mingle (18 percent)

“As we embark on 2017, millions and millions of people will be taking to the air this year, and should know that there’s no better gift you can give to a fellow traveler than respect and generosity,” said John Morrey, vice president and general manager, Expedia.com. “The Airplane Etiquette study shows that small acts of decorum can go a long way. After all, as it relates to flights, we are quite literally all in this together.”

(The study consisted of 1,005 interviews of randomly selected U.S. adult residents, conducted between December 2-4, 2016, among adults aged 18+.)