A Colorado man accused of disrupting an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Denver by refusing to wear a mask and then standing up and urinating in the cabin faces a federal charge of interfering with a flight crew and attendants that carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison and a possible US $250,000 fine.

The FBI arrested 24-year-old Landon Grier of Canon City after the flight landed March 9, according to an affidavit filed in US District Court in Denver.

The affidavit says Grier appeared to be trying to sleep but swatted at an attendant when she asked him repeatedly to put on his mask, as required by the US Federal Aviation Administration. A passenger later summoned attendants because Grier was urinating in his seat area.

Grier told an FBI agent that he had several beers and “a couple of shots” before boarding the flight, fell asleep on the plane and “awoke to being yelled at by the flight attendants who told him he was peeing. He stated he had no recollection of hitting the flight attendant and didn’t know if he was peeing.”

Grier has been released on $10,000 bond pending a court appearance set for March 26.

In a statement, Alaska Airlines said: “We will not tolerate any disturbance onboard our aircraft or at any of the airports we serve.”

JetBlue

In another incident, a maskless, boozing JetBlue passenger whose behaviour prompted the plane’s pilot to declare an emergency and abort the flight faces a US $14,500 fine from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA proposed the civil penalty against a passenger on a recent JetBlue Airways flight that left New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport bound for the Dominican Republic but turned back to JFK because of the man’s behaviour.

The FAA said the man crowded a passenger in the next seat, spoke loudly and ignored a flight attendant’s request to wear his mask. He also refused to stop drinking alcohol that he brought on board, which is prohibited by federal regulation, the agency said.

Flight attendants complained twice to the pilots. The captain declared an emergency and returned to JFK, where police were waiting and escorted the man off the plane, according to the FAA.