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FAA Proposes Fine Of Over $10,000 For Unruly Passenger On Flight To LA

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed a $10,300 fine against an unruly passenger on a Feb. 3 flight from Boise to Los Angeles, it was announced Monday.

The passenger aboard the Alaska Airlines flight smoked an e-cigarette in the airplane lavatory, activating the smoke detector system.

According to the FAA, the passenger also walked through the cabin without his face mask over his mouth and nose and repeatedly ignored flight attendants' instructions to wear his mask properly.

The enforcement action is part of the FAA's zero-tolerance policy for unruly and dangerous behavior by passengers who cause disturbances on flights or fail to obey flight crew instructions in violation of the FAA's regulations or engage in conduct proscribed by federal law.

Since Jan. 1, the FAA has received about 3,000 reports of unruly behavior by passengers, about 2,300 of which were reports of passengers refusing to comply with the federal face mask mandate.

On Friday night, a flight from California to Georgia had to be diverted to Oklahoma after a man became unruly and had to be detained by fellow passengers and the flight crew.

Also last week, a passenger was deemed unruly by the flight crew on a Delta Airlines flight from Los Angeles to New York and was removed from the plane after it was diverted to Detroit.

After receiving the FAA's enforcement letter, passengers have 30 days to respond to the agency.

(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)

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