FAA reports increase in unruly passenger incidents

WASHINGTON (UPI) — Nearly 100 more incidents of unruly passenger behavior aboard U.S. airlines were recorded last week alone, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.

The latest batch of incidents brought the year-to-date total of unruly passenger reports to 3,509, the agency announced in figures updated Tuesday — 89 more than in the previous week.

The vast majority of the reported incidents, 2,605, are classified by the FAA as related to the nationwide mask mandate that remains in place for flights and public transit.

Federal officials have launched 581 investigations into passenger behavior so far in 2021 and have initiated 87 enforcement cases.

The FAA launched only 183 investigations in 2020 and 146 the year before, The Hill reported.

The updated numbers were released as new cellphone video showed a violent confrontation between two men as passengers were departing a Frontier Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Miami earlier this week.

With air passenger demand increasing during the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, Transportation Security Administration officials say that have also been subjected to more violent incidents.

TSA acting Administrator Darby LaJoye told the House Subcommittee on Transportation & Maritime Security Tuesday that there have been about 85 physical assaults against its officers since March 2020.

Reporting by Don Jacobson

United Press International

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