The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday it is experiencing a spike in reports of unruly airplane passengers and has received about 1,300 such reports since February.
The agency said it has begun the process of fining passengers in about 20 cases. The agency continues to investigate and may bring additional cases, a spokesman said.
It is the second federal agency to identify a problem with misbehaving passengers.
CNN was first to report the Transportation Security Administration is approaching 2,000 reports of travelers not complying with the federal mask requirement. Those reports include passengers on airplanes, buses, boats, and trains, and people in transportation hubs like airports and train stations.
The FAA reports include mask non-compliance as well as passengers disturbing other passengers, assaulting flight crews, and drinking their own alcohol on flights. CNN has previously reported on multiple cases where passengers have been fined.
Federal prosecutors also brought charges recently against a passenger who they say assaulted a flight attendant and did not comply with the face mask requirement.
The FAA did not previously track the number of disruptive passenger reports it received, the spokesman said. But it said it historically brings between 100 and 180 enforcement actions each year.
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