Cause a takeoff delay at one of New York’s three airports and you’ll have to pay thousands of dollars — or land in court.
Fed up with disruptive fliers, the Port Authority plans to go after them for the money they cost their airline and the PA, The Post has learned.
“We’re going to use every lever at our disposal,” said PA chief Pat Foye. “These delays cost thousands of dollars — maybe tens of thousands — each. One Alec Baldwin incident can delay a whole airport for a day with cascading delays.”
Baldwin, the “30 Rock” star, made international headlines in December when he got booted by American Airlines at LAX after refusing to turn off his phone.
The PA is going to “aggressively’’ remind passengers to keep cool and listen to instructions from airline crews — even if they think they’re stupid, Foye said.
The next step, which will go into effect in a few months, will be legal efforts to force passengers to reimburse the costs of delays. Last year, the cost averaged $5,867 an hour for US carriers.
Foye said the PA isn’t looking to make money on its crackdown. After it collects from the offending passenger, it will reimburse the airline for fuel and other costs and keep only the small portion representing its own expenses.
Passengers who refuse to pay up will be hauled into Civil Court in Queens or New Jersey.
But it’s not just about money.
Each turn-back takes between 30 and 60 minutes because the planes must return to their gates for passengers to be ejected, and their luggage has to be removed.
One such delay can cause a ripple effect both in the crowded air over New York and at other airports because of tight runway schedules.
PA records show that in 2011, passenger disruptions forced pilots to return to the gates 390 times at Kennedy, La Guardia and Newark airports combined.
Cellphone and computer use accounted for only a small fraction of incidents. And that’s a problem that could disappear soon, as the FAA considers relaxing the prohibition on electronic devices during takeoffs and landings.
Other acts of disobedience are more common: At Kennedy and Newark, there were nearly 50 cases of passengers lighting up cigarettes. The largest number of disturbances was caused by disputes either among passengers or between passengers and crew.
Brandon Macsata, who heads the Association for Airline Passenger Rights, said his group would support anything that cuts down on delays. But he cautioned that they are not necessarily a passenger’s fault.
“I find the idea intriguing,” Macsata said of the PA’s push. “But it’s really easy to just go ahead and blame the passenger.
“The reason you see people so frustrated today is because air travel has become so impossible and the airlines and [Transportation Security Administration] make it such a hassle. They’re singling out the passengers for a problem that is systemwide.”