There are problems at two of the nation’s top five airlines. Labor problems.
28.08.2023 - 18:31 / nytimes.com / Pete Buttigieg
The Transportation Department fined American Airlines $4.1 million on Monday, saying the carrier violated federal rules by keeping passengers stranded on airport tarmacs for hours on dozens of occasions in recent years.
The agency said the fine was the largest penalty it had ever doled out for tarmac delays. The violations stem from 43 domestic flights between 2018 and 2021 in which passengers were stuck on the tarmac for more than three hours without being given a chance to deplane, according to the department.
A majority of the delays occurred at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, the largest hub for American Airlines. Others took place at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, San Antonio International Airport and Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington. The most extensive delay was in San Antonio, when a flight carrying 105 passengers sat on the tarmac for six hours in August 2020.
“This is the latest action in our continued drive to enforce the rights of airline passengers,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “Whether the issue is extreme tarmac delays or problems getting refunds, D.O.T. will continue to protect consumers and hold airlines accountable.”
Sarah Jantz, a spokeswoman for American Airlines, said the carrier had made substantial efforts to reduce tarmac delays, such as deploying a tool that adjusts the timing of flights in response to bad weather.
“While these delays were the result of exceptional weather events, the flights represent a very small number of the 7.7 million flights during this time period,” Ms. Jantz said in a statement. “We have since apologized to the impacted customers and regret any inconvenience caused.”
American Airlines will have to pay only half of the $4.1 million fine to the federal government. For the other half, the government is giving the airline credit for compensation provided to passengers for delays.
The federal prohibition on lengthy tarmac delays dates to the Obama administration. For domestic flights, airlines are not allowed to keep passengers sitting on the tarmac for more than three hours without giving them a chance to deplane. For international flights, the limit is four hours.
During Mr. Buttigieg’s tenure, the Transportation Department has tried to emphasize its desire to improve the flying experience for travelers and hold airlines accountable for their performance.
The department has imposed millions of dollars in fines, and it has pushed airlines to guarantee that children can sit with an accompanying adult at no extra charge.
It also created an online dashboard to show travelers the services they are entitled to when flights are canceled or significantly delayed for reasons within an
There are problems at two of the nation’s top five airlines. Labor problems.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) just revealed that it has levied a $4.1-million fine against American Airlines (AA) for keeping thousands of passengers onboard planes that sat on airport tarmacs for several hours without the option to deplane.
Donations through the site help to provide relief and hope during hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, and other disasters big and small.
The new contract will deliver more than $9 billion of compensation and quality-of-life benefits to American’s 15,000 pilots.
Delays are an unpleasant but inevitable part of air travel, but delays on the tarmac after boarding the airplane can be especially frustrating — and potentially dangerous.
The inaugural Skift Aviation Forum welcomed Robert Isom, the CEO of American Airlines, as its first speaker at the Statler Hotel in downtown Dallas. During the interview he shared how the world’s biggest airline was prepared for the upcoming Thanksgiving vacation, and already looking ahead to the future with a focus on recruiting and training pilots, and staffing the carrier back up.
For this bonus episode of The Skift Travel Podcast, we turn to Dallas where we held our first in-person Skift Aviation Forum earlier this week. To begin the event, we invited American Airlines CEO Robert Isom to have a conversation conversation with Airline Weekly’s Ned Russell about post-pandemic pattern changes and how his airline is preparing for the holiday season ahead.
The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) said it planned to seek higher penalties for airlines and others that broke consumer protection rules, saying they were necessary to deter future violations.
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian made a call to action for more funding and investment in the U.S. air traffic control system after an outage Wednesday disrupted more than 11,000 flights across the country.
U.S. airlines and airports are preparing for a surge in passengers over the Thanksgiving holiday, with the number of travelers expected to hit the highest level in three years.
American Airlines Chief Customer Officer Alison Taylor is retiring. Her departure will leave the Fort Worth, Texas- based carrier with no C-suite executive whose sole purview is customers.
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the committee’s top Republican urged the Biden administration to halt Chinese airlines and other non-American carriers from flying over Russia on U.S. routes.