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United States FAA states rowdy airline guest cases remain high

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stated on Monday that unruly airline passenger occurrences stay high, and the firm swore to maintain a zerotolerance policy.

There were 915 cases of unruly passengers reported in 2024 through June 9, including 106 cases of guest disruptions due to intoxication, the FAA said. The variety of unruly guests surged in 2021 to nearly 6,000 during the COVID-19 pandemic with the intro of mask mandates-- consisting of 4,290 mask-related events-- however still stay about two times that of 2020 or earlier levels.

Rowdy guest occurrences fell last year by 15% to 2,075 as the FAA imposed $7.5 million in fines, compared with 2,455 cases and $8.4 million in fines in 2022.

Growing concerns about rowdy travelers come as airline companies and the FAA are preparing for a

record summertime of travel.

Last month, the Transport Security Administration ( TSA) said it evaluated 2.95 million airline guests on May 24, the start of the long Memorial Day weekend, the highest number ever on a single day

The FAA stated in 2015 that it referred 39 unruly passengers in 2023 to the FBI, bringing the total of such referrals for violent and threatening behavior on airplanes to more than 270 given that late 2021.

U.S. Chief Law Officer Merrick Garland

directed the FBI to focus on examinations

of airline company passengers committing assaults following a 500%. spike in incidents in 2021.

In March, William Allen Liebisch, 43, of Cincinnati,. Ohio, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison after. pleading guilty for interfering with a flight crew, the Justice. Department stated.

Liebisch brought a box cutter on a Tampa-bound flight. and informed a fellow Frontier Airlines traveler that he wanted to. stab somebody on board, triggering the pilot to make an emergency situation. landing in Atlanta.

The FAA enforced the zero tolerance policy in January. 2021 and said it would enforce it at least as long as the face. mask order stayed in effect. The company opted to extend it. indefinitely in

April 2022.

(source: Reuters)