NEW YORK – A woman hailing from Hawaii has been ordered by authorities to pay as much as around $40,000 to American Airlines for causing a disturbance during a flight which had to land back.
The unpleasant incident happened last year involving the 29-year-old woman and as per a press release from the US Attorney’s Office in the District of Arizona, Cayla Farris received a sentence of 3.6 months in prison, along with three years of supervised probation.
Farris was convicted for engaging in disruptive behavior including using foul language, making threats against the flight crew, and causing disturbance among passengers during a flight from Phoenix to Honolulu on February 13, 2022.
The severity of the incident could be gauged from the fact that the crew was unable to carry out their duties, resulting in the captain deciding to return the aircraft to Phoenix.
This behavior didn’t leave isolated impacts as multiple other flights had to be diverted also. Farris pleaded guilty to the charge of interfering with a flight crew member and as part of the sentencing, U.S. District Judge Susan M. Brnovich ordered Farris to refrain from traveling by commercial aircraft without prior approval during her probation.
Previous instances of disruptive conduct by passengers on flights have incurred significant fines, with one passenger facing an $81,950 penalty by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for an incident on an American Airlines flight in July 2021, and another being fined $77,272 by the FAA for disruptive behavior on a Delta Air Lines flight during the same month, people.com reported.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg discussed these fines during a media interaction and also underscored a ‘zero tolerance’ approach towards individuals jeopardizing flight crew and fellow passengers’ safety.
