On Monday, November 14, the US Department of Transportation issued its first fine for tarmac delays based on a rule adopted in April 2010. The rule requires airline companies to allow passehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifngers to get off planes if it is grounded for more than three hours. Originally, the rule only applied to domestic flights. The maximum fine for ignoring this rule is $27,500 for each passenger stranded. Last May, American Airlines kept 608 passengers stranded on 15 different planes for more than three hours. The USDOT fined American Airlines $900,000.
The USDOT proposed the rule after a number of passengers complained about being stuck on planes for hours without food, water or working bathrooms. Between April 2009 and April 2010, 693 delays lasted longer than three hours and 105 of them lasted over four hours.
Airlines fought the rule arguing it would increase the number of cancelled flights. The argument is airlines will avoid the fine by just cancelling a flight ihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giff delays are expected to last more than three hours. The Government Accountability Office supported the industry’s assertion with their own report.
The DOT rule has been very effective. A year after the USDOT implemented the rule, there were only 20 instances of flight delays lasting three or more hours. The rule was so effective that the USDOT expanded it to include international flights.
A $27,500 fee per passenger may be more of a shove than a nudge, but it certainly got the airline industry’s attention.
Full article here.
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