r/news • u/Big-Heron4763 • 5d ago

Passenger ordered to pay more than $5,000 in fuel costs after flight diverted due to bad behavior

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/13/travel/australian-airline-passenger-fine-cost-fuel-intl-hnk/index.html
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u/Big-Heron4763 5d ago

In 2021, the US Federal Aviation Administration announced that they would be introducing a zero-tolerance policy for fliers behaving badly on planes.

The single highest individual penalty, $40,823, was issued to a traveler who brought their own alcohol on board, was intoxicated, attempted to smoke marijuana in the lavatory, and sexually assaulted a flight attendant – all in a single flight.

What the hell is the matter with people? Seems like the last few years have been nonstop stories of passengers acting up on planes.

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u/EnVeeZy 5d ago

I do wonder if it’s actually a very large surge or if it’s just that these kinds of things are reported on more. I mean twenty years ago, hell 10 years ago, “Local drunkard does foolish thing” wouldn’t even warrant a snippet, but now we’re hyper aware of how crazy the world has been getting (or has been?)

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u/headphase 5d ago

It has been a well-documented increase within the industry as communicated by airlines themselves as well as employee unions. You can also ask nearly any flight attendant and they will likely share anecdotal evidence as well.

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u/MightyKittenEmpire2 5d ago

You can also ask nearly any flight attendant and they will likely share anecdotal evidence as well.

that is not a valid indicator due to observation bias. For decades, Nurses and doctors said that the ER is crazier during a full moon. But statistics show no correlation between a busy ER and lunar phases.

The flight attendant is going to remember the lunatic on the plane for years and forget all the flights where nothing strange happened.

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u/headphase 5d ago

that is not a valid indicator

Which is exactly why I led with:

"It has been a well-documented increase within the industry as communicated by airlines themselves as well as employee unions"