[imagesource: Joe Giron / The New York Times]

Everyone has their air travel peeve.

Mine is people who drop their chairs as far back as they can go without at least a cursory check behind them. I feel like this is considered basic decorum.

Then you get passengers who completely lose the plot, which is where sizeable fines are responsible to prevent repeat behaviour. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has handed out its two largest-ever fines over the course of the past 12 months.

Both appear to be well deserved. One American Airlines passenger, flying from Texas to North Carolina, has been fined $81 950 (around R1,2 million) for losing the plot and threatening a flight attendant.

The BBC reports:

 The attendant had offered to help the passenger after she fell into the aisle of the plane.

The unnamed passenger then allegedly pushed an airline worker and tried to open the cabin door. While flight attendants attempted to restrain her, she repeatedly hit one staff member in the head.

When she was placed in cuffs, “she spit at, headbutted, bit and tried to kick the crew and other passengers”, the FAA said in a news release.

Okay, reclining your seat unannounced doesn’t seem too bad in comparison.

The second-largest fine dished out – a cool $77 272 or roughly R1,1 million – came on a Delta Air Lines flight from Las Vegas to Atlanta:

[The female passenger] allegedly tried to “hug and kiss the passenger seated next to her, walked to the front of the aircraft to try to exit during flight; refused to return to her seat; and bit another passenger multiple times”.

That passenger, who is also unnamed, was physically restrained by crew members

Biting is clearly a big no-no.

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, until you hop on a plane out of there and go off the rails.

In total, the FAA has issued more than $7 million in fines since January 2021.

[source:bbc]