Not willing to allow airlines to take safety short cuts or play pricing games with cheap fares, be they cheap airplane tickets or cheap vacation packages, the Obama administration is cracking down on airline improprieties with the Department of Transportation (DOT) stepping up its regulatory enforcement.
Some recent examples of such fines include:
American was fined a record $24.2 million for operating 280 jets for thousands of hours in 2008 with improperly bundled wiring harnesses in the front wheel wells.
Southwest was fined over $10 million for failing to conduct proper checks for cracks in certain Boeing 737s in 2007 following an emergency directive from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Executive Airlines (American Eagle in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean) was fined $700,000 for failing to document required visual inspections for possible cracks on eight planes.
AirTran was fined $500,000 for violations of the Air Carrier Access Act requiring airlines provide assistance in boarding and deplaning to disabled passengers.
Southwest was fined $200,000 for violating federal rules on bumping passengers off oversold flights.
Delta was fined $40,000 for not properly displaying taxes and fees on specific prices on its website.
AirTran was fined $20,000 for promoting sale prices starting at $39 each way that were actually $44.
The DOT has almost doubled fines on the aviation industry since Obama took office when compared to the final two years of Bushs presidency. Safety based fines issued by the FAA have increased 66 percent compared to last year.
Opponents of the increased fines believe that the government punitive approach may make airlines reluctant to self report potentially serious problems to avoid paying large fines. Proponents of this more aggressive approach with the airlines claim that it protects consumers and incentivizes the airlines to be proactive on safety issues.
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