United Airlines will once again be flying from the United States and China with the return of service to Beijing and more flights to Shanghai.
27.07.2023 - 18:27 / smartertravel.com / Can I (I) / Anthony Foxx / Airlines
Four airlines—United, American, Southwest, and Alaska—have been fined by the Department of Transportation (DOT) for “providing inaccurate information to passengers about how much compensation they could potentially receive for being denied boarding against their will, or “bumped” on oversold flights, and for lost, damaged, or delayed baggage.”
The fines are small and mostly symbolic, ranging from a low of $35,000 for United and topping out at $45,000 for American. The airlines were also ordered to cease and desist from similar violations in the future.
Related:DOT Fines United for Delays, Treatment of Disabled FlyersWhat, specifically, did these carriers do? The DOT doesn’t specifically say. However, in a press release the DOT does list several rules airlines must follow, which certainly seems to suggest these were the rules that were not followed:
“Immediately provide passengers who are involuntarily bumped from a flight with a written statement explaining the terms, conditions, and limitations of denied boarding compensation, and describing the carriers’ boarding priority rules and criteria.” “Provide the statement to any person upon request at all airport ticket selling positions, and at all boarding locations being used by the carrier.” Airlines are also prohibited from “limiting their liability … from the loss of, damage to, or delay in delivering a passenger’s baggage in domestic transportation to an amount less than $3,500” and must “provide passengers with proper notice of the baggage liability limit on or with their tickets.”“We are committed to ensuring that air travelers know the rules and have accurate information about compensation when they are bumped from flights and for lost, damaged, or delayed baggage,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in the release. The fines are the result of what the DOT calls “an unprecedented series of inspections” that found all four carriers “failed to provide passengers with the required notices or provided notices that were incomplete, outdated, or contained inaccurate information.”
So, basically, these four airlines were playing it fast and loose when it came to keeping passengers informed of their basic rights as paying customers. The fines, as mentioned, are minor, but there is value in drawing attention both to these airlines’ apparent negligence and the DOT’s diligence on behalf of the traveling public.
Readers, have you ever been bumped? Has your baggage been lost or damaged? Did you feel your airline provided you with adequate (and correct) information?
More from SmarterTravel.com:
How Can I Prevent Lost or Delayed Bags? 7 Secret Passenger Rights How to Score a Flight Upgrade for FreeWe hand-pick everything we recommend and select
United Airlines will once again be flying from the United States and China with the return of service to Beijing and more flights to Shanghai.
Venus Williams said it's become her "full-time job" to track down her luggage that American Airlines lost.
A first-class passenger said American Airlines overbooked his flight back to the US and gave his seat away, leaving him stranded in Europe.
Back to school is just around the corner and Spirit Airlines is making that transition a bit easier by helping students, parents, and teachers alike plan for their first school year vacation with a $40 flight sale.
Mary MacCarthy and her 10-year-old daughter, Moira, had just deplaned at Denver International Airport when two Denver police officers met them at the gate, calling them by name and notifying them that they had been reported for suspicious behavior.
The last day in August marks the unofficial end of summer, and now also a historic day for U.S.-Cuba relations. JetBlue announced last month that it would be the first to send a passenger plane to Cuba in 2016, and at 10:58 a.m. today, fulfilled this promise.
OAG, which dubs itself an “air travel intelligence company,” has released its top-10 rankings of the most and least punctual airlines in 2016. The group analyzed 54 million flight records using full-year data from 2016 to compile the list, and for the purposes of the study defined “on-time” as “a flight that arrives or departs within 14 minutes and 59 seconds (under 15 minutes) of its scheduled arrival/departure time.”
There’s no shortage of new airlines servicing North America right now: Norwegian, WOW, Primera, XL Airways, Level, Flair, and Joon have recently sprung up or expanded. But none of these new carriers is based in the U.S.
USA Today reports that American has been fined $1.6 million for tarmac delays that occurred during 2013-2015.
United has come in for more than its fair share of criticism lately, from travelers, from employees, from Wall Street. Now, the Department of Transportation can be added to the list of United-bashers.