Airlines Hit With Fines Over Consumer Protections
Joe Cortez July 24, 2017
American, Delta and Frontier ordered to pay nearly $1 million combined.
Three American carriers are facing a combined total of nearly $1 million in fines, after the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) said they violated consumer protection rules over a period of four years. In a press release, the department announced fines levied against American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Frontier Airlines.
The level of violations between 2012 and 2015 vary between the three carriers. In the case of Frontier, the DOT says the airline did not seek volunteers on overbooked flights, rather opting to remove passengers without consultation. Furthermore, Frontier is accused of not providing assistance to disabled passengers in a timely manner, including wheelchair access aboard aircraft and prompt response to complaints. For the above violations, the DOT fined Frontier $400,000, the most of the three carriers.
This latest round of fines levied against Frontier marks the second time in which the carrier has been fined for not protecting disabled flyers in the last five years. In 2012, Frontier faced a $50,000 fine for violations of the Air Carrier Access act when a quadriplegic passenger was removed from an aircraft when the airline could not accommodate him.
American was discovered not processing refund requests in a timely manner, resulting in a $250,000 fine. Delta underreported the number of mishandled bags to the DOT every month, giving skewed data for the monthly Air Travel Consumer Report. The Atlanta-based carrier faces a $200,000 fine for their errors.
In a statement to CNBC, Delta acknowledged they were informed of the erroneous reporting by the DOT in 2016 and “is constantly striving to improve our baggage-handling performance.” American and Frontier have not yet publicly responded to the DOT investigation.
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