FAA Proposes $160,000 in Fines for Alcohol-Fueled Incidents

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is continuing its crackdown on misbehaving passengers.

by Daniel McCarthy / 

(Fortunately, Adventures For Solo Travelers are comprised of good travelers and this has never been a problem in our 30+ years).

After instituting a zero-tolerance policy toward unruly passengers last summer, a policy that resulted in over $1 million in fines across almost 4,000 incidents, the FAA this week announced that it was proposing even more fines, this time for “unruly behavior involving alcohol.”

The FAA is proposing $161,823 in civil penalties against eight airline passengers for incidents specifically involving alcohol.

The incidents include an April Southwest flight from San Jose to San Diego when a passenger, who brought their own alcohol on their flight, sexually assaulted a flight attendant, and then smoke marijuana in the cabin’s lavatory. The FAA has proposed a $40,823 fine against that passenger.

The report also includes a March Delta Air Lines flight from Fort Myers to Detroit where a passenger who appeared intoxicated and admitted to drinking before the flight, took off his facemask, swore at passengers and accused them of stealing his property, and then threatened a crewmember, causing the flight to divert to Atlanta. The FAA proposed a $24,000 fine against him.

Another example is a March incident that occurred on an American Airlines flight from Dallas to Burbank when a passenger who refused to put on a facemask demanded a refund on the flight because he was skipped for food and drink service when he was sleeping. He then became combative with flight attendants when they asked to him again wear his facemask after he finished a drink they had delivered.

After he was served another drink, he threw it to the floor and stomped on it. The FAA has proposed a $34,250 fine against him.

According to the FAA, those three incidents are just some of the nearly 300 passenger disturbances due to alcohol and intoxication since Jan. 1, 2021. In order to combat the trend, the FAA has asked airports to prevent passengers from bringing “to-go” cups of alcohol aboard their airplane and only allow the cabin crew to serve them inflight.

The report is the continuation of a troubling trend for flight crews who have been tasked with enforcing a lot of the new COVID-19 measures, like face mask requirements, since the pandemic began. While a typical year sees unruly incidents top out somewhere around 150, COVID-19 has caused chaos in the skies and has left flight attendants to endure more than ever, with close to 4,000 reports in 2021.

Most famously this year, there was an incident of an unruly passenger on a Frontier flight from Philadelphia to Miami earlier this month when attendants had to duct-tape a passenger to a seat because of his behavior that went viral.

The FAA has taken extraordinary steps to try and get passengers to comply with the new COVID-19 rules, including a marketing campaign that asked passengers to treat airplanes like a trip to grandma’s house.

Catching coronavirus on plane ‘extremely unlikely’ while wearing mask, Department of Defense study finds

We at Adventures For Solo Travelers, are always studying travel spending countless hours reading travel articles.  This was interesting…

Planes filter air even faster than standard hospital operating room, DoD study says

“The results are in: Your exposure to COVID-19 is almost non-existent on our flights,” United tweeted about the study.

The air is changed in the jets even more frequently than in a standard hospital operating room, the study found. It takes just six minutes for 99.99% of particles to be filtered out of the cabin.

Airlines have taken a big hit as the coronavirus pandemic caused travelers to cancel, postpone or not book flights. As of last week, domestic air travel was still down 62% and international air travel was down 79% compared to a year ago, according to industry group Airlines for America.

Even on a long flight, the risk of exposure is “minimal,” the study found. The higher risk comes from sitting in the same row as someone with the virus, followed by the rows directly in front and behind them.

The greatest risk may come from talking to a neighboring passenger while eating or drinking without a mask, which the study didn’t specifically test.

The researchers noted that they only tested with standard three-ply surgical masks, one of the most popular types and the same kind the airline supplies. However, other face coverings like gaiters, cotton masks or masks made of other materials could vary in their effectiveness.

It also may not be easy to ensure everyone will follow airlines’ mask requirements. Reports of disputes over passengers refusing to wear masks have popped up regularly since the summer, and even if a maskless passenger is kicked off a plane, other people could have already been exposed.

The study also suggested that it’s beneficial to load passengers in smaller groups and allow space on jetways to maintain social distancing.

United and the other major U.S. airlines are requiring passengers to wear masks aboard their planes. The airlines have also added other safety protocols like increased cleaning and reduced contact with flight attendants.

 

What is the state of Solo Group Travel today?

SOLO TRAVEL TOURS –

What is the state of Solo Group Travel today?  How will singles travel groups move forward?  USTOA has some data on this.  Let’s take a look…

USTOA Survey: 2021 Will Most Likely See Travel Recovery

by Matt Turner

Aug 28, 2020 11:37am

“The United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) released new findings from surveys of its Tour Operator Active Members and destination management Associate Members about post-COVID-19 plans for recovery and resumption of business—and not much of it is good.

According to the survey, just over one-third (38 percent) of active members have seen an increase in bookings in the last 60 days; another third (38 percent) have seen no change in bookings during this timeframe, with the remaining 24 percent reporting a decrease in bookings. In the June survey, two-thirds of tour operators reported an increase in bookings over the previous 60 days.

As a follow-up, USTOA asked when new passengers are booked to travel, based solely on bookings made in the last 60 days. Active Members reported the following:

While 10 percent have bookings made for the third quarter of 2020, another 19 percent of responding Active Members report that they have new passenger bookings scheduled for travel in the fourth quarter of 2020

One-third (33 percent) say they have received bookings for Q1 2021 travel

Three-fourths (76 percent) report passenger bookings for second quarter of 2021

Eight out of ten Active Members (79 percent) are reporting travel bookings for the third quarter of 2021

Half (52 percent) report new bookings being made for Q4 2021 travel

Roughly one-third (31 percent) of members report new passenger bookings for 2022

Best tour companies solo travelers destinations update:

Nearly three-fourths (73 percent) of current Active Member traveler bookings are to “international” destinations, the remaining 27 percent of traveler bookings are to North America (U.S., Canada and Mexico). 

USTOA asked when Active Members anticipate restarting operations in destinations around the world. The results are as follows:

Africa: Nearly a half (43 percent) of tour operators foresee restarting operations in the first quarter of 2021, while one-quarter (27 percent) anticipate returning to the region in the second quarter of 2021.

Antarctica: A quarter (24 percent) of respondents with itineraries to Antarctica anticipate resuming operations in the second quarter of 2021, showing a significant change from the June survey where 0 percent of members said they had anticipated returning within that same timeframe.  Roughly 18 percent of Active Members anticipate a first quarter 2021 return. 

Asia: Six in 10 Active Member respondents (60 percent) foresee a potential return to Asia between the first and second quarters of 2021.

Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands: The most selected response for a potential operations restart in the region was the third quarter of 2021 at 33 percent. This reflects a significant shift in timing compared to the June Active Member survey, where more than half (53 percent) anticipated resuming operations to the region during the first quarter of 2021. 

Canada: More than one-third (38 percent) of Active Members see the second quarter of 2021 as the potential return to operations in Canada, while another quarter (28 percent) anticipate returning to the region in the first quarter of 2021.  Results from the survey conducted in June reported that nearly half (48 percent) of respondents were optimistic in returning to Canada between September and October 2020; now only 10 percent anticipate a return within that timeframe. 

Central America: The most selected response for a potential operations restart in the region was the first quarter of 2021 at 52 percent, jumping up from 33 percent in the June survey. 

Europe: More than one-third (37 percent) of respondents anticipate resuming operations in Europe in the first quarter of 2021, reflecting a big shift from the survey conducted in June, which reported that a similar 33 percent anticipated a September 2020 return. None of the current survey respondents anticipate returning to Europe next month.  

Mexico: One-third (32 percent) of tour operator respondents with programs in Mexico anticipate returning in the first quarter of 2021, showing a 12 percent increase from the June research report.

South America: Almost half (44 percent) of tour operators with programs to countries in South America anticipate resuming operations in the first quarter of 2021, showing a 14 percent increase compared to the survey response in June. Another 19 percent anticipate resuming operations within the second quarter of 2021.

United States: Respondents showed new optimism for an August 2020 return to business, with the response jumping to 34 percent, compared to 11 percent reported in the June survey.

DMO Update 

USTOA asked destination management Associate Members when their destination anticipates opening tourism to North American travelers. Almost half (46 percent) of the respondents selected “other,” which included a select number of countries that are open now with testing and quarantine restrictions, but a majority noted “too early to determine” (up from 32 percent in the June survey). According to the same DMO Associate Member survey, roughly 14 percent anticipate a January 2021 opening for North American tourism, while another 14 percent expect to open in April 2021 or beyond.   

The survey also reflected a sizable change in the expectation of a September 2020 reopening for North American travelers. In June, 17 percent of DMO respondents anticipated reopening to North America next month; now, that number has decreased to 5 percent.

Product Types and Group Size 

DMOs named FIT as the tourism product they believe will come back the soonest and strongest as their destination begins to reopen to tourism. Small groups (less than 26 passengers) was ranked second, nature/adventure in third, followed by luxury, medium groups (20-50 passengers), large groups (50-plus passengers) and river cruises. Ocean cruises was ranked to come back last.

When asked what group size limitations may be in place once tourism from North America is open, more than a third of USTOA DMO Associate Members selected it was “too early to determine” for both coaches (38 percent) and gatherings (37 percent). For coaches, 16 percent responded that size limitations may be up to 20 people maximum, while 9 percent noted potential group size limitations of up to 50 people, and 8 percent selected up to 10 people. Roughly 5 percent responded that coach limitation could be set at up to 15 people, while another 5 percent selected a limitation of up to 100 people. Only 2 percent selected coach size limitations of up to five people maximum. The remaining 19 percent selected “other.” 

When it comes to health and safety practices, an overwhelming 91 percent of DMOs say they will use their own governments’ health and hygiene protocol. More than half (57 percent) reported that they will rely on World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)/World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, while 31 percent noted that other health organizations guidelines will be utilized.

The Active Member survey was completed on August 14, with a 64 percent response rate of Active Member brands. The destination management survey was completed on August 19, with a 49 percent response rate of DMO Associate Members.

Source USTOA.