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A woman who struck an American Airlines flight attendant on a plane from Dallas to Aspen earlier this year was fined $23,000 by the Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday, amid a recent spike in assaults on airline employees by unruly passengers.

The woman, who was not named, was angered by the fact that her seat did not recline, spurring her to attack the staffer during the March 11 altercation, according to the air safety agency. 

The federal body's marked response comes as airlines deal with unprecedented numbers of unruly passengers this year after the U.S. introduced a mask mandate on airplanes and in airports as of February 1, prompting the agency to announce Wednesday more than $201,000 worth of fines on such passengers - including the aforementioned woman.

The fines announced Wednesday ranged from $9,000 to $32,000, and totaled to $201,287. The FAA does not identify passengers against which it has sought penalties.  

While the 'unruly passenger trend' has declined in the past week, the agency said Tuesday in a tweet prior to its announcement, the number of incidents is 'still too high.' The rate of incidents involving violent or unruly passengers has declined in recent months by nearly 50 percent - since all-time-highs in early 2021, after the FAA first introduced its Zero Tolerance policy against unruly passengers.

The agency does not have the authority to prosecute violators, but is able to impose fines of up to $37,000 per violation. They can also impose multiple violations per incident. 

While the 'unruly passenger trend' has declined in the past week, the agency said Tuesday in a tweet prior to its announcement, the number of incidents is 'still too high'

A woman who struck an American Airlines staffer on a flight from Dallas to Aspen earlier this year was fined $23,000 by the Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday, amid a spike in assaults on airline employees by unruly passengers

The FAA said Wednesday that it has received more than 5,000 complaints of unruly passengers this year alone, and 73 percent were mask-related.

More than 100 of the reported incidents were violent in nature, including the 10 announced by the agency.

An FAA spokesman issued a warning last week amid the uptick in violence on flight crews, stating that the agency has already initiated 227 enforcement cases and referred 37 to the FBI for review.

'Let this serve both as a warning and a deterrent: If you disrupt a flight, you risk not just fines from the FAA but federal criminal prosecution as well,' FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said in a joint statement with the FBI on November 4. 

The FAA made good on that threat Wednesday, announcing hefty fines for violations ranging from physical violence to an instance where a passenger threw trash at a flight staffer and stole cookies from a fellow passenger.

According to the agency, the March incident involving the female passenger transpired after the woman 'verbally abused flight attendants after she realized her assigned seat would not recline' and proceeded to refuse to switch seats with multiple passengers when prompted by attendants attempting to accommodate her.

The FAA said the woman 'kept yelling at flight attendants' and refused to comply with federal face mask requirements.

The disorderly woman eventually switched seats, but she continued to verbally attack multiple flight attendants, the agency said.

'She then struck a flight attendant on the right forearm, and attempted to do so again.'

Law enforcement personnel were waiting to arrest the woman when the flight disembarked.

Another one of the ten incidents cited by the agency Wednesday detailed a January altercation, also on an American Airlines flight, where a woman shoved a flight attendant in the chest while being escorted off the plane for refusing to wear a mask. She received a $24,000 fine.  

A third incident, on a Horizon Air flight from Austin to San Francisco in May, involved a woman who 'threw trash at a flight attendant, and snatched cookies from a nearby passenger.' It garnered the biggest fine, a $32,000 penalty. 

According to the FAA, the woman refused to follow instructions to buckle her seatbelt, punched and screamed at her husband and son and distracted flight attendants. 

While it was not included on the FAA's list, another incident as of late was an alleged attack on another American Airlines employee by 20-year-old Brian Hsu in October.

During the encounter, a female American Airlines staffer, whose identity has not been released, was allegedly punched twice in the face by Hsu after mistakenly bumping into the first-class passenger, and she suffered multiple broken bones as a result.

Brian Hsu, 20, (pictured) allegedly punched a female American Airlines staffer, whose identity has not been released, twice in the face in October

Hsu, who was arrested after the incident and released on a $10,000 bond, claimed that the attendant 'charged' at him first and ran into his outstretched palm.

After the incident, the head of American Airlines, Doug Parker, called the attack 'one of the worst displays of unruly behavior we've ever witnessed.' 

There have been several other instances, often captured on video, of airline assaults or disruptive anti-maskers on planes over the past year.

A California woman who allegedly punched a Southwest Airlines flight attendant in the face and knocked out two of her teeth, as well as pulled her hair, has been charged with felony assault in federal court.

Vyvianna Quinonez, 28, was also charged with interfering with a flight crew, a felony. She appeared in court in San Diego on September 17.

The attendant on the Southwest Airlines plane, identified in court documents only as S.L., lost two teeth and suffered other injuries to her face after instructing the suspect to fasten her seatbelt and wear her face mask properly on the May 23 flight from Sacramento to San Diego, California, prosecutors said. 

A Florida woman was arrested and forced off a Delta flight after allegedly refusing to wear a mask and spitting at other passengers, which was caught on camera.

In yet another incident, cellphone footage captured the moment Adelaide Schrowang, 23, was escorted off the plane at Southwest Florida International Airport on July 7 when a captain ordered she be removed from the flight.

The federal mask mandate is set to remain in effect until at least January 18. 

A viral video shows a passenger identified as Vyvianna Quinonez punching the crew member in the face with a closed fist and pulling her hair (pictured)

Cellphone footage shows the moment Adelaide Schrowang, 23, was escorted off the plane at Southwest Florida International Airport on July 7 when a captain ordered she be removed