Airlines have banned more than 4,000 passengers for unruly behavior in the last year [View all]

[marmar]

(CBS News) Refusing to wear a mask or other unruly behavior on an airplane has gotten more than 4,000 people banned by U.S. airlines over the past year. And a few people have ended up with thousands of dollars in fines — in one case, the federal government is requesting a more than $32,000 penalty.

The civil penalty is one of four the Federal Aviation Administration announced it is seeking Wednesday against airline passengers who allegedly interfered with or assaulted flight attendants. A February 7 JetBlue flight headed to New York had to return to the Dominican Republic after a passenger refused to wear a face mask after being asked by flight attendants to wear one, threw an empty alcohol bottle and food, cursed at crew members, grabbed one flight attendant and hit another and drank alcohol that wasn't served to her.

The administration is seeking a $32,750 fine in that incident — the highest requested since the pandemic began. The other fines range from $9,000 to $16,500. In two of those cases — one on a January 26 flight and one on a January 30 flight — passengers either refused to wear a mask or refused to wear it properly. The administration also announced three penalties last week for disruptive behavior, ranging from $14,500 to $31,500. .........(more)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/passengers-airline-bans-unruly-behavior-fines/