The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing $63,000 total in fines for three airline passengers who disrupted flights on US carriers in January, reinforcing its directive to punish unruly passengers on planes, USA Today reports.
Two of the passengers were on a January 5th Jetblue flight from Haiti to Boston. One, who was fined $31,750, drank alcohol he brought on board the flight, grabbed two flight attendants on the flight, and required the crew to reseat other passengers to isolate the man.
A second man on the same flight, who was fined $16,750, also drank alcohol he brought on board, shouted obscenities and “made motions to strike a flight attendant.” The crew called ahead to Boston, where police escorted the men off the flight. It is unknown if the two men knew each other or were traveling together.
In the third case, a man on a January 14th SkyWest flight from Yuma, Arizona, to Dallas-Fort Worth drank mini-bottles of alcohol he brought on board and pestered other passengers. At one point he started moving toward the front of the plane. Two law enforcement officers onboard restrained the man and isolated him on the flight, with the officers sitting behind him. The FAA levied a $14,500 fine on him.