American Flyer Ordered to Pay Nearly $39,000 Over Mask Disturbance
Joe Cortez November 17, 2023
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona announced the penalty in the case of 29-year-old Cayla Farris, who agreed to plead guilty to one felony count of interfering with a flight crew.
Incident Over Face Mask Happened Aboard Hawaii-Bound Flight
According to settlement documents, the incident happened on February 13, 2022, aboard a flight from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) bound for Honolulu, Hawaii. Around a half-hour into the flight, Farris decided to remove her face covering despite the airline policy calling for all flyers to wear one. Although she initially complied, Farris says she decided to remove it again.
When warned again by the flight crew, the settlement claims Farris began “cursing and threatening passengers and air crew members in the operation of her duties.” The disturbance ultimately forced the pilots to return the flight to Phoenix and have Farris removed.
Under the agreement, Farris will receive a time-served sentence of 3.6 months in prison and pay American the cost of diverting the flight back to Phoenix. In addition, she will not be allowed to fly aboard a commercial aircraft without the approval of the federal court. She must also not use alcoholic beverages during her supervised release and attend regular mental health counseling appointments.
The investigation was handled by both the Phoenix Police Department and the FBI.
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When people lack civic behaviour and even force a flight to return for behaving anti-social, society needs to be protected from them.
Nobody liked wearing masks on airplanes, we did it because it was required. The airlines were following mandates from the government at that time. American immediately quit requiring them when the US appeals court vacated the order. It wasn't American's fault that the passengers had to wear masks, American was just doing what was legally required at the time.
A mandate is NOT a law. It wasn't passed by congress and signed by the president.
It's too bad that this happened over the ridiculous face mask policy. Face masks on a plane were theater. Cosmetics. I agree that disruptive passengers need to face real consequences. The guardrails on decent polite behavior no longer seem to exist. That said, the forced face masks rules were criminally stupid, unscientific, unsupported by properly done clinical trials. Those masks were an uncomfortable imposition on every person and did nothing from a public health standpoint. A wise solution should have been a symbolic fine and a rebuke of the CDC and DOT. Save the real punishments for real disruptive incidents.
I went from March 2020 to January 2023 without any illnesses. Mask wearer. Took off my mask for a work event lasting a long weekend. Covid and lost a week of productivity. Know an ER doctor (a Republican, by the way) who, masked, treated many with covid, and intubated many, watched many die. He was able to avoid catching the virus. You happen to be wrong on several counts. Clear bias and support a disruptive passenger while saying you don't.
Unfortunately there are many truly ignorant people who believe masks do absolutely nothing when they in fact do. If they didn't then why do surgeons wear them when working on a patient? They wear them to protect the patient, not themselves (unless the patient has a known infectious disease then they wear a hazmat suit with self contained breathing apparatus. Wearing a mask will reduce the likelihood of transmitting live bacterial or viral particles in the air which can be taken in by others around you. It is a simple extra layer of protection which should not be controversial but for the ignorant looking for something to whine about, they did not disappoint. Will masks stop airborn bacterial & viral infections 100%? No, but nothing is 100% including the amazing vaccines for COVID but they reduce the risk or the severity of an infection.
You have a higher chance of surviving breathing in a pathogen at reduced concentration if everyone are using masks than no masks to knock down the concentration to a more manageable level that your immune system may have a better chance to defeat. I don't think these people inconvenienced by being asked to wear masks would tell their surgeons during medical procedures not to wear a mask. Of course if anyone is that stupid then they deserve to get infected/die. Hopefully before they procreate & pass on their stupidity to their kids.
100% correct. And why is the State acting as collector for AA. I think AA should have to fight its own civil cases to collect money. Maybe they should start suing people who fall inflight or their estates if they die? After all they should have realized that they were not fit to fly and caused a diversion. Flight delays due to mechanical issues or mechanical issues causing diversions, maybe it's time to sue AA for loss of time?
She disrupted the flight by her behavior. It really doesn't matter what set her off -- she committed a crime and served time for it, and she cost the airline money becauser of her criminal behavior. Her penalty is part of that criminal case.
Posters here are complaining for political reasons.
Restitution is normal in criminal sentencing. There is nothing out of bounds by this at all
Perhaps this will be an example of rulings to come. It would be nice if every one of the 'incidents' were charged like this. That should solve the problem flyers.
unfortunately, the anti-masker temper tantrums still worked. airlines got tired of the tantrums, deemed them a more immediate threat, and now pretend no one gets sick while flying anymore, anyway
Well, yes, and no. I watched a Delta flyer get thrown off the plane as he screamed about his status. The management team member who was there to deal with the problem told him that he didn't need to threaten to never fly Delia again, his tickets were being refunded and he was banned. Luckily, they got this idiot off the plane before it took off, but he paid the price
GOOD!!!