Woman Fined $9K For Assaulting Flight Attendant On Flight To LA

Los Angeles CA

24 May, 2021

7:37 PM

Description

LOS ANGELES, CA — Federal authorities fined a woman $9,000 after she reportedly assaulted a flight attendant on a JetBlue flight from Miami, Fla. to Los Angeles, the Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday. The FAA leveled fines ranging from $9,000 to $15,000 against five airline passengers across the U.S. on Monday. Three of them were on flights to or from California. In two cases, officials said passengers assaulted flight attendants; one incident happened on a flight to Los Angeles. A woman seated in the main cabin was brought a headset, champagne and food from the first-class section by another passenger, the aviation agency said. After a flight attendant picked up the items and carried them back to the first-class section, the passenger became enraged, officials said, following the attendant into the next section and yelling obscenities at him. She then slammed her body against the flight attendant, almost pushing him into the lavatory. The plane was diverted to Texas, where she was removed from the plane, officials said. Another JetBlue passenger traveling from Lauderdale, Fla. to Los Angeles on Jan. 10, drank his own alcohol after attendants told him it was prohibited. He then proceeded to talk on his cell phone during the flight. Attendants told him this was also not allowed and he began repeatedly yelling at the attendant. "Flight attendants notified the pilots about the passenger's behavior, which distracted them from performing their duties," officials said. A Texas man faces a $9,000 fine after he reportedly refused to pull his face mask up over his nose on a Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to Houston in February, according to the agency. "He said he would not comply with the policy and that facemask-wearing would not be enforced in Texas," federal officials said. The man was in his seat when a flight attendant asked him to pull his face mask up to cover his nose on Feb. 20, the federal agency said in a Monday release. When he refused, the attendant brought him a mask, but he threw it on the floor and said he wouldn't wear it. The flight attendant attempted to reiterate federal and Transportation Security Administration guidance on masks and asked the passenger to acknowledge them, aviation authorities said. After he yet again refused, the Southwest captain arranged for law enforcement to meet the aircraft when it landed in Texas. No additional details were provided on what happened next. SEE ALSO: CA To Require Vaccination, Negative Test For Indoor 'Mega' Events Those passengers — who were not identified by the agency — will have 30 days after receiving a fine from the FAA to respond. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently offered guidance that masks are no longer needed among those who are fully vaccinated against coronavirus. California will also lift its mask mandate on June 15 — but the U.S. Department of Transportation will maintain its mask mandate on planes, buses, trains and all other forms of transportation into, within and out of the U.S. California COVID-19 Data as of Monday 3,674,044 cases of coronavirus have been reported in California to date. 1,081 newly recorded confirmed cases Saturday. 0.8 percent is the seven-day positivity rate. 64,576,707 tests have been conducted in California. 61,762 COVID-19 deaths have been recorded since the start of the pandemic. 36,364,200 vaccine doses have been administered statewide.