Brazil Starts Fines and Flight Bans for Unruly Passengers

Brazil has introduced a tiered system of penalties for disruptive passengers, giving airlines a shared blacklist and the regulator a basis for fines. Resolution 800/2026 from the civil aviation agency Anac took effect on 14 September 2026.

Three Tiers of Misconduct

The rule applies to domestic flights and to international passenger areas where passengers connect, and it sorts behaviour into three levels.

The lowest tier covers conduct such as using a phone when told not to, causing a disturbance or ignoring crew instructions. These attract warnings only.

The middle tier covers offences like smoking, verbal attacks and damage to equipment. Here an airline can end the travel contract immediately, without owing a refund or hotel accommodation.

The top tier is for severe conduct: physical violence, carrying a weapon, attempting to enter the cockpit, sexual harassment, bomb threats and tampering with safety devices. Passengers can be fined up to R$17,500, roughly USD 3,400, and banned from flying for six to 12 months.

A Shared Blacklist

Airlines will keep a common blacklist across all domestic carriers, so a banned passenger cannot simply switch to another airline. Anac’s framework places the responsibility on carriers: the airlines, not Anac, must log the cases and check the list before selling a ticket.

Reporting deadlines vary with seriousness. Severe incidents must be reported immediately, while minor infractions can be reported within 30 days. Airlines must keep records for five years.

The Numbers Behind It

Anac’s data showed the problem growing. Reported cases rose from 1,019 in 2023 to 1,764 in 2025, an increase of 66 percent. In the first half of 2026 Brazil recorded 881 incidents, including 154 classed as high-risk for safety.

Those figures put pressure on both the regulator and carriers. Disruptive behaviour can force diversions, delay other passengers and distract crew from safety duties, which is why many regulators treat the highest-level cases as a flight-safety matter rather than a customer-service one.

How It Compares

The distinguishing feature of the Brazilian approach is that the industry-wide blacklist is kept by the airlines rather than a government database, which leaves the work of enforcement with carriers.

The rule’s effectiveness will depend on how consistently airlines apply it. Staff must judge which tier an incident falls into, and the shared list only works if every carrier checks it before selling a ticket. The first cases under the new rules will show whether the system is practical at scale.