F.A.A. Refers More Unruly Passenger Cases to Justice Department

The Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday that it had asked the Justice Department to consider bringing criminal charges in 43 serious and dangerous incidents from the past year involving unruly passengers aboard flight planes.

Since late 2021, the F.A.A. has referred 310 cases to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, following a commitment between the two agencies to collaborate more closely on the criminal prosecution of unruly airline passengers when warranted.

As of Aug. 18, airlines reported 1,375 incidents of unruly passengers to the F.A.A. In the past year, the agency has forwarded 43 cases to the F.B.I. for potential criminal charges. These incidents include attacks on crew members, sexual assaults on passengers and attempts to breach the cockpit.

“There’s absolutely no excuse for unruly behavior,” Michael Whitaker, the F.A.A.’s administrator, said in a statement. “It threatens the safety of everyone on board, and we have zero tolerance for it.”

Unruly passenger behavior surged during the pandemic, prompting the F.A.A. in 2021 to implement a zero-tolerance policy for such conduct and begin issuing fines instead of warning letters to offenders. The agency reported approximately 6,000 such incidents in 2021, a sharp rise compared with about 1,000 reports in 2020. The number of incidents reported in 2023 fell to 2,100 but still represented an uptick from the years preceding the pandemic.

The F.A.A. lacks criminal enforcement authority and can only impose fines for unruly and violent behavior, with penalties up to $37,000 per violation. More serious cases that the agency believes warrant criminal prosecution must be referred to the F.B.I. Typically, the aviation agency only refers the most egregious cases.