Only 21 days into the new year, the Federal Aviation Administration has already logged 151 reports of unruly passengers—92 of which involve violations of the mask mandate. That doesn’t portend well for the rest of the year. The FAA conducted a whopping 1,075 investigations into unruly passengers in 2021. By comparison, it never conducted more than 300 investigations in any of the previous 25 years for which data is available.
The latest entry in this year’s total comes from Miami. An London-bound American Airlines flight was forced to turn around and go back to Miami because a woman refused to wear a mask. Fellow Community Contributor Aldous J. Pennyfarthing covered it here.
The passenger is likely to face some pretty stiff fines from the FAA for what she did. Plus, she’s been banned from flying on American, pending investigation. I would think American would be well within its rights to send her the bill for rebooking the passengers and turning the plane back around. But according to South Florida ABC affiliate WPLG, if American does go that route, she’d certainly have the money to pay it. It turns out this woman was a first-class passenger.
Steve and Teresa Freeman were among the 129 passengers who were forced to find another way to London. They were on their way back to the UK, and happened to be sitting behind the woman. They told WPLG what they saw:
The Freemans recalled that the offending woman was very drunk. They recalled that as a result, she was “extremely abusive” to the flight attendants. According to Steve Freeman, the flight attendants warned the woman numerous times. They also gave her different types of masks to try, and she refused them all. In the end, Steve believed the decision to turn around wasn’t just about her refusal to wear a mask, but the “abusive behavior.”
Teresa noticed something was up when she looked at the flight tracker and saw the plane was actually turning around. Fifteen minutes later, the captain came on the intercom and confirmed that they were indeed going back to Miami.
Incredibly, according to South Florida CBS affiliate WFOR-TV, Miami-Dade police couldn’t arrest this woman because a mask mandate violation isn’t grounds for arrest, even on a misdemeanor. Excuse me? This woman willfully and recklessly endangered the safety and health of everyone on board, and greatly inconvenienced the passengers forced to rebook.
Incidents like this are why people who refuse to wear masks on board ought to be led out in handcuffs. It’s harsh, I know. But considering the health risk, as well as the inconvenience to passengers and the crew, it’s more than warranted.