Air carrier flight crew reported an altitude deviation due to distraction. The pilot crew was listen...

Narrative:

While on descent into ZZZ I received a call from one of the flight attendants alerting me to non-compliance issue that was being had with a couple passengers in regards to our mask policy. I relayed the information to the captain and we discussed our course of action. The delinquent passengers were seated in row 12 and we made note of that and repeated it several times in our discussion. I then switched to operations to explain the situation to them. While with operations ATC cleared us to cross zzzzz at 16;000 feet. I was busy with operations and did not hear this transmission. Most likely due to the primacy of '12' in our minds the captain set 12;000 feet in the altitude alerter. Once I had finished with operations the captain and I finished the discussion of how to handle the non compliance. ATC then had us switch frequencies. The new controller asked us what altitude we had been given and that is when the mistake was realized. We temporarily leveled at 15;000 feet before ATC cleared us lower. ATC's reaction was that it was not a concern. The remainder of the descent and landing were uneventful. All of this occurred in a very short period of time.the most obvious take away from this is aviate; navigate; and communicate. The altitude verification process was missed because I never heard the call and we jumped right into the discussion of what to do with the passengers rather than the captain alerting me to the changes.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew reported an altitude deviation due to distraction. The pilot crew was listening to a Flight Attendant describe details of a non-compliant passenger regarding the face mask policy.

Narrative: While on descent into ZZZ I received a call from one of the flight attendants alerting me to non-compliance issue that was being had with a couple passengers in regards to our mask policy. I relayed the information to the Captain and we discussed our course of action. The delinquent passengers were seated in row 12 and we made note of that and repeated it several times in our discussion. I then switched to operations to explain the situation to them. While with operations ATC cleared us to cross ZZZZZ at 16;000 feet. I was busy with operations and did not hear this transmission. Most likely due to the primacy of '12' in our minds the captain set 12;000 feet in the altitude alerter. Once I had finished with operations the Captain and I finished the discussion of how to handle the non compliance. ATC then had us switch frequencies. The new Controller asked us what altitude we had been given and that is when the mistake was realized. We temporarily leveled at 15;000 feet before ATC cleared us lower. ATC's reaction was that it was not a concern. The remainder of the descent and landing were uneventful. All of this occurred in a very short period of time.The most obvious take away from this is aviate; navigate; and communicate. The altitude verification process was missed because I never heard the call and we jumped right into the discussion of what to do with the passengers rather than the captain alerting me to the changes.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1756672
Time
Date	202008
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Crossing Restriction Not Met Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Passenger Misconduct

Air carrier flight crew reported an altitude deviation due to distraction. The pilot crew was listening to a flight attendant describe details of a non-compliant passenger regarding the face mask policy.