The Federal Aviation Administration warned airports throughout the United States on Tuesday to monitor passengers’ consumption of alcohol, citing an uptick in “unsafe behavior incidents on planes and in airports.”
The agency expressed a specific concern regarding “to go cups” of alcohol served to passengers before boarding flights, according to a statement from FAA Administrator Steve Dickson obtained by the Washington Examiner. The statement follows several recent incidents of violence and unruly behavior aboard aircraft.
“As the number of passengers traveling has increased, so has the number of unruly and unsafe behavior incidents on planes and in airports,” the administrator wrote. “Our investigations show that alcohol often contributes to this unsafe behavior.”
Unruly behavior incidents have spiked in recent months as more people have resumed travel following the disbursal of COVID-19 vaccines to combat the pandemic.
The FAA has received 3,715 unruly passenger reports this year, only 99 of which have followed enforcement cases. Approximately 2,729 of the incidents were related to mask policies.
The FAA asked airports to work with their concessionaires to help avoid passengers bringing alcohol purchased before flights onboard planes, noting “regulations specifically prohibit the consumption of alcohol aboard an aircraft that is not served by the airline,” Dickson added.
The agency suggested adding signage to airports and broadcasting public service announcements to make customers aware of the regulations.
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Dickson’s address came days after passengers duct-taped a man to his seat aboard a flight from Philadelphia to Miami when he allegedly groped two flight attendants and got into a physical altercation with another, authorities said.
Maxwell Berry, 22, was arrested on Sunday at Miami International Airport and charged with three counts of battery after the alleged incident happened late Saturday night aboard a Frontier Airlines flight.
