Man fined $ 9,000 for refusing to wear a mask on a flight out of Salt Lake City

The FAA has issued more than $ 1 million in fines to unruly passengers so far this year.

A man who refused to wear a mask on a flight departing from Salt Lake City has been fined $ 9,000 by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The man, whose name and place of residence was not disclosed, was on a Delta flight to Long Beach, California, on February 20th. He is one of 34 passengers fined a total of $ 531,545 for undisciplined behavior in the last round of sanctions. announced Thursday and raised the total fines assessed this year to more than $ 1 million.

In July, the FAA fined a man $ 10,500 for refusing to properly wear a face mask on a Provo flight to Mesa, Arizona.

Since Jan. 1, the FAA has received 3,889 reports of passengers misbehaving, including 2,867 people who refused to serve the federal mask mandate.

The FAA does not have the power to file criminal charges, but has sent a letter to airports asking them to coordinate with local police to file charges against unruly passengers.

“Every week we see situations in which law enforcement was asked to meet with a plane at the door after an undisciplined passenger incident,” the letter says. “In some cases, flight attendants have reported that they have been physically assaulted. However, many of these passengers were interviewed by local police and released without any criminal charges. When that happens, we miss a key opportunity to hold unruly passengers accountable for their unacceptable and dangerous behavior. “

The FAA did not say whether the man was fined for his behavior on the flight from Salt Lake City to Long Beach and was criminally charged in either city. He is one of 21 passengers fined this week for breaching the mask’s mandate and many of those people face additional fines for other infractions.

The largest fine assessed this week was $ 45,000 against a passenger on a May 24 JetBlue flight from New York to Florida who threw hand luggage at other passengers, refusing to sit , got into the hallway and refused to get up, grabbed a flight attendant by the ankles and put his head up the skirt. The passenger was handcuffed and the flight landed emergency in Richmond, Va.

A passenger on another JetBlue flight – New York to San Francisco on May 16 – was fined $ 42,000 for refusing to wear a face mask, making contact with other passengers and threatening them and “snorting. what looked like cocaine from a plastic bag ”. The flight was diverted to Minneapolis.

A passenger on a flight from southwest Florida to Missouri on Jan. 2 was fined $ 32,500 for assaulting passengers around him “because someone in his line would not change seats to accommodate his traveling partner.” “.