Unruly Passengers, or People Who’ve Had Enough?

When is the last time you read a news article, and had a reaction that was the opposite of what the writer intended?

For me, it was yesterday, when I read about the spate of fines that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently issued to unruly passengers.

Intended Reaction: Wow, are people still not wearing face masks? Passengers suck! FAA, thanks for protecting our vulnerable flight attendants, and sticking up for passenger safety!

Actual Reaction: I admire the passengers who refuse to accept rules, just because the airline made them. How many draconian policies, instituted “for our safety,” can people reasonably be expected to accept? Can I blame people for acting like people with free will, rather than cargo?

Tangent Alert: I’m about to cover a lot of territory that is not directly related to sciatica or sitting disabilities. I promise I haven’t forgotten the point of this blog. There’s a reason I fixated on this particular issue. I’ll get there.

The Year of Difficult Passengers

On January 13^th, the FAA adopted a stricter set of policies for dealing with unruly passengers. The agency would no longer give offending passengers warnings, or offers of counseling. Instead, they would respond by suing passengers.

This strategy was not new; the FAA did use civil action to resolve cases before the new policies were put in place. However, the new policies specified that civil action was now the only available recourse.

According to The New York Times article, the FAA received 1,300 reports of passenger misbehavior since February.

In an NBC News editorial, Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, put that number in context when she noted:

In a normal year, we’d see around 150 referrals. Just four months into this year — and with passenger volume still barely half of 2019 numbers — we’ve already seen nearly 10 times the normal number of incidents for a whole year.

The FAA noted that they’ve identified possible violations in over 250 of these cases, and are still investigating hundreds of other reports. They’ve taken action in only 20 of these cases so far.

The fines they issue are no mere slap on the wrist. They run into the thousands, and even tens of thousands of dollars. Through press releases, the FAA has disclosed details (including fine amounts) of five incidents that happened after January 13^th.

Mind you, the publicly available information about these cases comes from the FAA, rather than from the passengers or flight crews. The stories in the press releases have no doubt been pushed through several filters of corporate punctiliousness. There are no competing accounts against which to balance the FAA’s version of events.

Anyway, the incidents:

On January 14^th, a man traveling from Yuma to Dallas-Fort Worth drank several small bottles of alcohol, and kept trying to touch the passenger behind him. After the flight attendants moved him, he kept bothering other passengers nearby. He kept getting up to wander the aisles, even after two off-duty law enforcement officers wrestled him into his seat. He was fined $14,500.

On March 16^th, a man traveling from Los Angeles to Newark starting cursing, screaming, and slamming overhead bins while boarding the plane. He threatened to harass a flight attendant, and cursed at the captain. Before takeoff, the man was escorted off the plane by law enforcement. He was fined $9,000.

On January 26^th, a man traveling from Chicago to Sacramento refused to cover both his nose and mouth with a mask. When a second flight attendant asked him to wear his mask correctly, “he became combative and used offensive language.” He was asked to leave the plane, and on his way out, he hit a flight attendant with his bag, and called both flight attendants “pathetic.” He was fined $16,500.

On January 30^th, a man traveling from Bozeman to Seattle refused to wear a mask while boarding, and also refused to wear the face mask offered to him by the flight attendants. He ignored several of the flight attendants’ requests to put on a face mask. The plane left the gate and taxied to the runway, but then returned to the gate to drop off the passenger. The man was fined $9,000.

The most dramatic incident happened on February 7^th, on a flight from the Dominican Republic to New York. Here, the press release is worth quoting extensively:

The FAA alleges the passenger failed to comply with multiple flight attendant instructions to wear a facemask; threw an empty alcohol bottle into the air, almost hitting another passenger; threw food into the air; shouted obscenities at crew members; grabbed a flight attendant’s arm, causing her pain; struck the arm of another flight attendant twice and scratched his hand; and drank alcohol that had not been served to her by the cabin crew. As a result of the passenger’s actions, the flight returned to the Dominican Republic.

The FAA fined the woman $32,750.

Trouble Unmasked

In the press release announcing their new, tougher regulations, the FAA noted:

The FAA has seen 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 connection between the violence at the U.S. Capitol and an increased number of disruptive passengers (which was not obvious to me) was not explained.

The refusal-to-wear-a-mask reason is plausible, even though actual data is somewhat sparse. As far as I can tell, there is no publicly available information quantifying how many of the recent unruly passenger reports involve people refusing to wear a mask.

However, data from other sources does give some indication of the size of the of the problem. Chicago’s Daily Herald reported that United Airlines has banned around 750 people from flying for mask non-compliance. JetBlue has banned 130, and Spirit Airlines has banned 604.

In the previously mentioned NBC News editorial, Nelson clearly states that most recent reports of passenger misbehavior stem from passengers not wearing masks.

I’ve taken a grand total of two flights since the pandemic started, so my experience is barely anecdotal. But on those flights, improper mask wearing was rampant. The flight crew and flight attendants alternated between sounding bored and annoyed as they announced, over and over, that masks had to cover both the nose and mouth.

Masks: A Political Flashpoint

Personally, I don’t like wearing a mask. Like many, I find them annoying, hot, and impractical since they fog up my glasses. But I also understand why they’re required in indoor, public spaces. I obey mask requirements, and I’ve never made a scene about it.

Planes are petri dishes of infection in the best of times. After all, you’re packing many, sometimes hundreds of people into a glorified tin can. But there is decent evidence showing that requiring all passengers to consistently wear a mask can significantly decrease the spread of COVID on airplanes. It’s a reasonable precaution, even if following it sucks.

However, not everyone feels that way. Masks have become a political flashpoint. For various reasons, many people don’t prioritize the goals that led to mandated mask-wearing in the first place. And people naturally resent having to follow rules that are based on ideals they don’t share. Put them in a situation where those rules are scrupulously enforced, and you’ve set the stage for conflict.

Not Just About the Masks

I understand why masks are at the center of many of these altercations. Still, I can’t help thinking that the recent uptick in unruly passengers and exasperated airline personnel isn’t just about the masks. Perhaps I’m projecting, but each time I step on an airplane, I feel the noose tighten ever so slightly. I realize I’ll be granted fewer personal liberties than on my last flight.

Seats are shrinking, fees are increasing, and any extra amenities are being monetized or eliminated.

At the risk of sounding like a curmudgeon, I remember a time when I could pack a full-sized bottle of shampoo, get randomly assigned to an exit row, and wear my shoes through the security line. Now, security checks require you to halfway undress, and the flight feels like a live QVC broadcast.

Although I think that mask wearing on airplanes is a sensible requirement, I wish airlines would drop the pretext that they enforce the federal requirements so rigidly because they want to protect passengers’ health. An honest message would be: “WEAR A MASK: Limit Our Liability.”

Airlines do not show a great deal of concern for passengers’ health, except when they might be held legally responsible for neglecting it.

For example, although extended sitting can cause blood clots and deep vein thrombosis, airlines have made no attempt to limit these risks to passengers on long flights, opting instead to leave the prevention and management of such conditions to passengers and their doctors.

By law, U.S. airlines are prohibited from discriminating against passengers with disabilities. But in practice, people with disabilities often can’t get the help they need to navigate infrastructure that isn’t designed for them.

Reports of disability discrimination on airlines have been rising disproportionately, compared to the total number of passengers on flights. The Department of Transportation received 36,930 such complaints in 2018 (the most recent year for which data is available).

Narrow aisles and the lack of onboard wheelchairs mean that some disabled passengers have trouble getting on and off the plane, and can’t access the restroom. Ticket kiosks don’t accommodate people with impaired vision, and those with hearing loss can’t hear announcements at the gate.

All too often, disabled passengers who need assistance are treated in a way that destroys their dignity. One woman with multiple sclerosis reported being tied to her chair with a dirty blanket because the airline didn’t have a suitable wheelchair available.

Another family was kicked off their flight because their severely autistic 5-year-old son wouldn’t put on a face mask. (The TSA face mask regulations include an exception for people whose disabilities prevent them from wearing masks.)

Passengers who feel airlines have compromised their health and safety are left with little recourse. They can file a complaint with the airline, or with the Department of Transportation, but restitution is often too little, too late. And then, there’s no guarantee that the airline won’t repeat their error the next time around.

Many people, especially those with disabilities, find that their only realistic option is to avoid air travel altogether.

The Flaunting of Sensible Rules

Since airlines habitually ignore passengers’ health, safety, and comfort, I can’t help feeling a certain satisfaction when passengers flagrantly flaunt the rules. I even feel this way when they flaunt sensible rules, like wearing a mask, or not swearing at flight attendants.

When there are no good outlets available for people to express their anger and dissatisfaction, they have no choice but to resort to improper outlets.

By the way, I do sympathize with the flight attendants, who are expected to enforce policies they didn’t make, and absorb anger that should rightly be directed to their employers. No one should be expected to put up with abuse as part of their job. Then again, their employers should not be putting them in situations where such abuse can reasonably be foreseen.

Do I want to be on a plane with a passenger who won’t stop touching people, or who is throwing empty liquor bottles? Not particularly.

Were the passengers identified in the FAA lawsuits staging a disciplined protest against unfair rules and practices? I doubt it.

Were their actions part of a larger, organized movement? Not unless it’s the weirdest movement I’ve ever heard of.

Should such a movement exist? Hell yes! I’ll be the first to join.

Go on, passengers. Be unruly. Be stubborn. Be people.