It’s nice to see a passenger actually get a bill once in a while for causing a diversion. Here, a woman must pay American Airlines nearly $39K for threatening a flight attendant and other passengers on an American Airlines flight to Hawaii.
Passenger Held Accountable For Causing Flight Diversion On American Airlines
29-year-old Cayla Farris boarded an American Airlines flight on February 13, 2022 traveling from Phoenix (PHX) to Honolulu (HNL). Once in the air, Farris used profanity and threatened a flight attendant as well as other passengers onboard. It is not clear if she was intoxicated.
The captain deemed the situation so volatile that he diverted back to Phoenix, delaying everyone onboard and causing several passengers to misconnect.
Farris was later charged and now has pleaded guilty to interference with a flight crew member. As part of her guilty flee, she was sentenced to a time-served sentence of 3.6 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
During her three-year supervised release period, Farris will not be permitted to travel by commercial aircraft without prior approval. She was ordered to pay $38,952 in restitution to American Airlines for the costs it incurred as a result of her delay.
Good News. Accountability Is Reasonable
Farris got off relatively easy considering the crime she pleaded guilty to carries a punishment of up to 20 years in jail and a much larger fine. On the other hand, the $38,952 strikes me as a fair amount for American Airlines to compensate for the extra fuel and labor costs as well as the cost to re-route passengers whose plans were spoiled by the delay.
If every passenger who caused a disturbance was fined like this, I do think we would see even fewer incidents onboard. Already, 2023 has been a dramatically better year for in-flight behavior than in 2021 and 2022. While nearly 6,000 incidents were reported in 2021 and about 2,500 in 2022, this year has seen only 1,820 reported incidents. While still significantly higher than the pre-pandemic numbers, the numbers are moving in the right direction.
CONCLUSION
A Hawaiian resident has been ordered to pay $38,952 to American Airlines for her behavior onboard which led to a flight diversion. I am happy to see passengers held accountable for their poor behavior onboard.
Well done AA. It’s about time these yahoos pay for the disruptions and inconveniences they cause.
And how would she pay that? Are her properties fair game for repo?
Glad to see this story widely reported as a reminder antics and actions have consequences.
I’ll agree this judgment is well-deserved and fair. However…
“Farris got off relatively easy considering the crime she pleaded guilty to carries a punishment of up to 20 years in jail and a much larger fine.”
This is pretty absurd. The woman spent several months in prison for using abusive language at the wrong place/time. That is both objectively not “getting off easy” and also not “getting off easy” compared to sentences given out in this country for other crimes. The statutory max means next to nothing–it’s just there to reinforce the already excessive coercive power granted to prosecutors in our country.
“If every passenger who caused a disturbance was fined like this, I do think we would see even fewer incidents onboard.”
Why? You just pointed out they could be imprisoned for 20 years. If that’s not deterring people, I don’t see what will. The fact of the matter is that the people who do these things are not acting rationally, which is a requirement for deterrence to work.
I fully agree with the fine, and sounds like AA was able to calculate the cost of the diversion at $38,952. How about in addition atleast a thousand to each of the effected fellow passengers for the inconvenience, maybe $2k for those who missed connections ?.
I quite agree.
Would another passenger on a flight that was diverted due to a passenger such as this one have standing to sue that offending pax for their own damages (ie a missed conference, missed cruise, etc)?
THAT would be where things would get really interesting. Say there are 180 pax onboard, and 10% actually file suits, each for damages incurred (let’s estimate them at $2000 each, obviously could be more). There’s $36K in 18 different suits.
Would other pax have legal standing to sue?
It’s about time and should be rigorously prosecuted, punished, and enforced! Enough of this nonsense
Need more fights on planes
ok – will ask the obviously – will this spend on AA count towards status or give her miles?
..afterall, it is $ used to cover travel
… what credit card should she use?
-m
I think it’s safe to assume she also received a lifetime ban from AA.