FAA plans to crack down on rowdy plane passengers

Federal officials say they’re going to get tougher on airline passengers who disrupt flights

Federal safety officials said Wednesday they’re stepping up enforcement against unruly airline passengers after confrontations on flights to and from Washington, D.C., around the time of the rioting at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump.

The Federal Aviation Administration said there has been “a disturbing increase in incidents where airline passengers have disrupted flights with threatening or violent behavior. These incidents have stemmed both from passengers’ refusals to wear masks and from recent violence at the U.S. Capitol.”

The FAA said under an order signed by Administrator Stephen Dickson, unruly passengers no longer will get warnings. Instead, the agency said, it will launch legal enforcement actions. Penalties can includes fines up to $35,000 and jail terms for passengers who assault or threaten airline crews or other passengers.

The new policy will be in effect through March 30.

The FAA said it has pursued more than 1,300 enforcement actions against passengers in the past 10 years. It didn’t immediately provide a count of recent cases, some of which involve passengers who assaulted flight attendants who told them to wear a face mask.

Videos of several recent incidents have been shared widely on social media, some showing people who were removed from planes for refusing to wear masks. The FAA has resisted calls for a federal mask rule, but all leading U.S. airlines require passengers to wear them with exceptions generally made only for children under 2.

Some lawmakers and airline union officials have demanded that people who took part in the riot at the Capitol be placed on the federal no-fly list. The FAA said it doesn’t have authority over that list but works with law enforcement agencies on security threats.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority announced plans Wednesday to close 13 subway stations in the nation’s capitol beginning on Friday. The agency said the stations would remain closed through Thursday, Jan. 21 in an effort to “accommodate the expanded security perimeter that will be in effect for Inauguration.”

The agency also said 26 bus routes will be detoured around the expanded security perimeter in downtown Washington beginning on Friday.