People who fly frequently in part because of so many cheap traveloptions, such as cheapairplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, and cheap vacation packages, willlikely be pleased to learn that United Airlines has been fined a record $1.1million for over a dozen runway delays that left passengers stuck in groundedplanes for hours, in some cases without working bathrooms.
The delays occurred on July 13th, 2012 atChicago OHare International Airport when severe thunderstorms and lightningcaused several ramp closures.
The reason this is good news is because airline industrybehavior tends to be financially motivated and now that the government isfinally financially penalizing an airline for excessive runway delays, futuredelays will hopefully occur that much more rarely.
U.S. airlines are prohibited by the U.S. Department ofTransportation (DOT) from allowing domestic flights to sit on a runway for overthree hours at U.S. airports without giving fliers the opportunity to exit theplane. 13 United and United Expressflights remained on the runway for more than three hours on July 13th.
Some planes were only over the limit by only a couple ofminutes while others were more than an hour over the maximum time allowed. Bathrooms on two United Express flightsstopped working. Over 900 passengerswere affected by the delays and given no chance to deplane.
In reviewing these delays DOT observed It is unacceptablefor passengers to be stranded in planes on the tarmac for hours on end. We will continue to require airlines to adoptworkable plans to protect passengers from lengthy tarmac delays and carry outthese plans when necessary.
Although United had a contingency plan for dealing withexcessive runway delays, the DOT determined that the airline did not implementits plan during these delays and further that the plan was inadequate.
United claims that it attempts to prevent runway delayswhenever and wherever possible. Unitedcommented We are committed to complying with the tarmac delay regulations andwe continue to improve our procedures while maintaining the safety of ourcustomers and co-workers.
United will only have to directly pay the government $475,000within 30 days with the difference going to reimburse United for the $185,000 itpaid to the passengers impacted by the delays and $440,000 for improvementsUnited will make at OHare International Airport.
Previous to this fine, the government was either not finingairlines for runway delays or was giving out very low fines.
DOT rules state that the government can penalize theairlines up to $27,500 per passenger for airlines that violate the runwayrules, which would have totaled over $25 million in this case.
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