The United States Government has fined American Airlines US$4.1 million for delaying the disembarkation of passengers on numerous flights which encountered long ground delays. The American carrier has 30 days in which to pay half the fine, the remainder being credited to American Airlines for compensation already paid to passengers.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) has confirmed this is the largest such fine against a carrier since rules covering long ground delays took effect ten-or-so years ago. The department said its investigation showed that from 2018 until 2021, American had 43 domestic flights retained on the ground for at least three hours without giving passengers — 5,821 in total — the chance to disembark.
There were certain exceptions in which carriers can bend the rules, including for safety and security reasons, but the DoT said none of those were factors in the flights it had identified. “This is the latest action in our continued drive to enforce the rights of airline passengers,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who vowed to hold airlines accountable under consumer-protection laws.
According to the consent order, American stated that it actively looks to avoid any lengthy ground delays, but the 43 flights represented a small fraction of 1% of the roughly 7.7 million flights that American and American Eagle operated over the four-year period in question. American Airline said it provided “substantial compensation” to delayed passengers,” and has subsequently devoted more management attention to avoiding delays.
Most of the delays occurred at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where American is the dominant airline, and others occurred in San Antonio and Houston when flights heading to DFW were diverted there. Many occurred during thunderstorms, and American was unable to manage its airport gates to let passengers deplane. (£1.00 = US$1.27 at time of publication).
