Flying has become one of the safest modes of transportation in the world. Every day, millions of passengers take flights across the world to get to their friends, family, work events, or vacations.
Most of these flights take off and land without incident, which is a testament to the hard work of thousands of dedicated people employed by airlines, airports, and contractors.
However, some airline incidents have nothing to do with aircraft issues. Following the pandemic, the United States of America has seen a dramatic rise in unruly passenger incidents.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) defines an unruly passenger as someone who disrupts flights through behavior deemed violent or threatening.
With an increasing number of incidents occurring on flights throughout America, the FAA has maintained strict consequences for passengers who interrupt flights through their disruptive behavior.
2024 brought a lot of unruly passengers
2024 was a difficult year for airlines, as they faced well over 1,000 unruly passenger incidents. Despite improvements from earlier years, according to the FAA, airlines reported over 2,102 cases of unruly passengers. This number is up 1% from 2023, where 2,076 were reported.
As of August 2024, 43 additional cases had been passed on to the FBI. Among these incidents were some rather threatening aggressors. On January 1, 2024, a passenger was physically assaulted by their travel companion.
Another passenger physically assaulted a crew member on January 31, 2024. In February, other serious incidents were reported, including attempts to breach the cockpit, sexually inappropriate behavior toward crew members, and verbal assault.
The crackdown on unruly passengers is in the interest of passenger and crew safety. The FAA has raised the consequences to deter others from behaving inappropriately on planes. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg explained:
“Dangerous passengers put everyone at risk, and the Biden-Harris Administration has been clear that those who disrupt flights will be held accountable. Unruly travelers face stiff fines from the FAA and possible criminal prosecution too.”
As a result of the FAA's stricter rules, 512 investigations were initiated in 2024, or about 24% of the total number of incidents for the year.
The FAA's Unruly Passenger Statistics show that, of these cases, 402 saw enforcement actions initiated. In total, $7.5 million worth of fees were charged against disruptive passengers in 2024. This comes as the FAA has kept stricter fines for misbehaving travelers.
Disruptive events on flights were not this common in the past
Data from the FAA highlights an increase in the frequency of passenger-caused disruptions from past years. Prior to the pandemic, passengers were statistically less likely to have outbursts on flights significant enough to cause serious disruptions.
Passenger incidents even fell in 2020, likely due to the fact that significantly fewer people were flying. However, following the start of the pandemic, incidents spiked in the following manner:
- 2017: 544 incidents
- 2018: 889 incidents
- 2019: 1,161 incidents
- 2020: 1,009 incidents
- 2021: 5,973 incidents
- 2022: 2,455 incidents
- 2023: 2,076 incidents
- 2024: 2,102 incidents
Almost 6,000 cases were reported in 2021 as passengers began returning to the skies following the pandemic. This alarming spike threatened the well-being of many, leading the FAA to launch serious measures to bring the number down.
These harsher penalties, enacted in 2021, assisted in bringing down the number of unruly passengers on flights by 50%.
A zero-tolerance policy helps prevent incidents
Faced with a dramatic increase in unruly passenger incidents at the start of 2021, the FAA implemented a zero-tolerance policy for passengers who disrupt flights through their inappropriate behavior.
The new rule, enacted on January 13, 2021, circumvented previous procedures of giving some passengers warning letters or counseling. Instead, misbehaving travelers are stuck with a fine automatically.
On April 20, 2022, the FAA decided to make this rule permanent to protect the safety of the flying public in the long term. FAA Administrator Billy Nolen highlighted the agency's harsh stance on disruptive fliers, explaining:
“Behaving dangerously on a plane will cost you; that’s a promise. Unsafe behavior simply does not fly and keeping our Zero Tolerance policy will help us continue making progress to prevent and punish this behavior.”
The FAA also combined this rule change with a public awareness campaign. The federal agency claims that these two efforts helped bring incidents down by over 60%. Given its effectiveness, it is no wonder the FAA wants to keep the rule in place indefinitely.
Some passengers are already paying a big price
With these new rules in place, some passengers have faced massive fines in the wake of their inappropriate behavior. In 2022, the FAA proposed its largest fines ever in response to two particularly problematic altercations onboard.
The two incidents that prompted the aggressive response occurred on American Airlines and Delta Air Lines flights in the summer of 2021.
The largest fine was proposed for a passenger on an American Airlines flight traveling from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina on January 7, 2021.
During the flight, the unruly passenger fell down in the aisle, and when a flight attendant offered to help her up, she pushed the flight attendant out of the way and attempted to open the aircraft door.
In response, two flight attendants attempted to restrain her, with the passenger repeatedly hitting one of them on the head.
Eventually, she was put in flex cuffs, but the disruptions did not stop there, as the passenger tried to physically assault crew members and passengers by spitting, headbutting, biting, and kicking at the people around her.
Law enforcement was waiting in Charlotte upon the aircraft's arrival. Because of her actions, the FAA imposed a fine of $81,950.
Just over one week later, another incident occurred that also prompted an exceptionally steep fine from the FAA.
On July 16, 2021, an unruly passenger was reported on a Delta Air Lines flight flying from Harry Reid International Airport to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport .
The justification for these sky-high fines is simple: federal laws regarding in-flight conduct are important, and designed to protect passengers and crew.
Passengers are prohibited from interfering with aircraft crew, which includes physical assault or threats of physical assault.
Disruptive passengers who violate these laws can be subject to civil penalties or criminal fines, depending on the nature of the incident. Upon receiving a fine from the FAA, a passenger has 30 days to respond.
Airlines across the world are getting more strict with passenger disruptions
Airlines seem to be getting tired of unruly passengers. After all, in addition to endangering the aircraft occupants, these incidents cause costly delays, or, in the case of some in-flight incidents, diversions.
Alcohol is often part of the cause of passengers behaving irrationally on flights. This is true for other parts of the world as well.
In fact, the Dublin-based Ryanair Group is pressuring the European Union to enact a two-drink limit in airports, like it already does with duty-free purchases.
This comes as a recent disruptive passenger event cost the airline $18,686 following a flight diversion. The aircraft, which had left Dublin Airport and was bound for Lanzarote, Spain, had to divert to Porto Airport in Portugal.
In retaliation, the airline is suing the passenger involved in the incident. The goal is for Ryanair to get paid for some of the additional costs of the disruption, including extra fuel, legal fees, and accommodation for passengers and crew.
Meanwhile, in Japan, All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines are working to better define customer harassment to deter passengers from acting out on flights.
Both companies have provided clear examples of the unacceptable behavior, and outlined consequences and procedures for airline employees facing belligerent travelers.
On ANA, these problematic passengers are first dealt with politely, but consequences severely escalate if the situation is not resolved.
