The Federal Aviation Administration has sent incident reports of another 43 unruly passenger cases to the FBI for possible prosecution.
This makes more than 300 in total since 2021 when it began a ‘zero tolerance’ policy amid regular incidents of passengers refusing to wear masks.
The FAA refers details in the most serious cases when it believes the passenger behavior merits potential criminal charges.
For less severe cases, the agency has doled out fines, often in the thousands of dollars.
The FAA can fine passengers a civil penalty of up to $37,000 per violation.
Some of the latest incidents just referred to the FBI include sexual assaults, threatening behavior to other passengers and crew and trying to breach the cockpit.
“There’s absolutely no excuse for unruly behavior,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said.
“It threatens the safety of everyone on board and we have zero tolerance for it.”
In 2021, there were nearly 6,000 unruly passenger incidents which was up nearly 500% on the previous year.
The number of incidents has come way down since then but is still about double the number pre-pandemic.
