FlyersRights Sounds Off on the DOT $1.9M Fine to United Airlines

The DOT recently assessed a fine to United Airlines of $1.9M for violations against the tarmac rule that was driven to fruition by FlyersRights in 2010.  According to the DOT, United Airlines allowed 25 flights to be on the tarmac for “long term” without giving passengers the option to get off the plane.  This happened in the years from 2015 to 2019.

Why did it take so long for the DOT to take action?  President of FlyersRights, Paul Hudson as a few things to say about that.

The DOT's fine of $1.9 Million is pathetically weak and late. It took it six years to issue a fine that is less than 1% of the maximum fine of $28,000 per passenger for violations of the 3 or 4 hour maximum tarmac confinement rule.

The 3,000 plus passengers should have received compensation for these egregious airline abuses. But for judicial interpretations of Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 that deem everything an airline does to passengers (other than cause  physically injury or death) is a “service” immune from tort claims like wrongful imprisonment or fraud, passengers would have legal recourse to recover money damages.

Let's do the Math

The maximum fine that can be assessed is $28,000 per passenger.  With 3218 passengers impacted, the total fine should have been $90M but instead it was  $1.9M.  So United ended up paying 2% of the potential fine.  Out of the $1.9M, only $750,000 will be used to compensate passengers.  The remaining will go to the federal government.  That works out to only $233 per passenger.  A far cry from the $28,000 per passenger maximum fine that can be assessed.

Read the Reuters Article on the Story of the Fine.