Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Wednesday that it sent 80 unruly airline passenger cases to the FBI for possible criminal prosecution.
The FAA told FOX Business that these were the "most egregious" incidents out of the nearly 6,500 cases reported since January 2021.
Airlines have already reported 499 cases of unruly passenger incidents since the beginning of 2022, according to FAA data. The majority of cases, 324, are related to passengers not abiding by the federal mask mandate. RELATED: American Airlines LA-to-DC flight lands in Kansas City because of unruly passenger: reportThe FAA started investigations into 123 of those reported cases and initiated enforcement action in 59 cases, which means the FAA is in the process of levying fines for those passengers.
In 2021, there were over 5,900 cases reported to the FAA. Two people were arrested after an incident escalated into a brawl at Miami International Airport in Florida on the evening of December 20, police said.Although the FAA has the ability to propose hefty fines against unruly passengers – as much as $37,000 per violation – it can't prosecute criminal cases.