TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Increasingly, Tampa International Airport police are dealing with intoxicated passengers.
The Federal Aviation Administration has a zero-tolerance policy for passengers who disrupt flights, but often, intoxicated passengers don’t even make it onto the planes and that’s when airport police get involved.
Drunk passengers can face fines, arrest and even be banned from flying completely.
Several videos, recorded by police body warn cameras at TPA show passengers who’ve had too much to drink at the airport.
The FAA keeps track of unruly passengers.
More than a thousand incidents were recorded in 2019. The number spiked to 5,973 incidents in 2021 when people were angry about wearing masks on planes and in terminals. In 2023, the FAA recorded 2,075 incidents of unruly passengers.
“The airport is a very stressful place. You may be delayed several hours, you may be running late and then you throw in some alcohol and that’s a recipe for disaster sometimes,” said Tampa International Airport Police Chief Charlie Vazquez.
The Chief pointed out that TPA had more than 24 million passengers, and there are relatively few incidents that end in arrests.
“The vast majority of them, the passenger gets rebooked, bring ’em back land side and they get rebooked for a later flight,” said Vazquez.
However, some passengers get out of control when they’ve had too much to drink and those incidents do end in arrest.
“Of course, they can be arrested, charged with disorderly intoxication,” said Vazquez. “Sometimes those disorderly intoxications rise to the level of a peace officer, which you don’t want that.”
He says, the airlines can prevent someone from boarding an aircraft if they think they are intoxicated.
“At the very least, you won’t catch that flight. If you escalate where you need to be taken in the Marchman Act, or you are arrested for disorderly conduct and assault, well then if you escalate beyond that you may get placed on a no-fly list, maybe forever,” said Vazquez.