‘Be prepared to pay.’ TSA doubling fines for passengers who refuse to wear masks
The Transportation Security Administration is doubling the fines for airline passengers who refuse to wear masks as confrontations, sometimes violent, continue to be a problem on planes and at airports.
People who refuse to mask on flights and in airports, as well as on trains, buses and other forms of public transportation could face fines between $500 and $1,000 for the first offense. Repeated violations will cost between $1,000 and $3,000.
“If you break the rules, be prepared to pay,” President Joe Biden said Thursday.
In his speech yesterday announcing a host of new COVID-19 mitigation measures, Biden also addressed the rising incidents of violence involving passengers on planes who refused to wear masks.
“And by the way, show some respect. The anger you see on television toward flight attendants and others doing their job is wrong, it’s ugly.”
The new rules come as mask wearing at Myrtle Beach International Airport has become increasingly less common even as the airport sees its busiest months ever. July saw the most travelers the airport has ever seen before, but it when The Sun News first reported that hundreds of people each day were going maskless inside the airport, including airline employees and Horry County police officers.
“Horry County Department of Airports will defer to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as the sole regulatory and enforcement agency,” airport spokeswoman Lauren Wehrung said in an email responding to the TSA’s new policy.
The current mask mandate runs through January 2022.
“By doubling the range of penalties, we seek to reinforce the importance of voluntary adherence,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske said, according to Reuters.
This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 1:10 PM.
