Remember last summer’s overnight tarmac stranding incident in Rochester, Minn.? The government does. This morning it issued what it called a “precedent-setting” series of fines against three airlines in connection with the lengthy ground delay.
The U.S. Department of Transportation fined Continental Airlines and ExpressJet Airlines $100,000 for their roles in the Continental Express flight 2816 delay, in which passengers were trapped on an aircraft for a total of 9 1/2 hours. The government also assessed a civil penalty of $75,000 against Mesaba Airlines, which provided ground handling for the flight, for its part in the incident.
But that’s not the most interesting part of the story.
These are the first enforcement orders punishing carriers for extended tarmac delays, as well as the first time a carrier acting as a ground handler for another airline has been punished for failing to properly help passengers leave an aircraft during an unreasonably long tarmac delay.
This is also the clearest indication to date that the Transportation Department is taking a more pro-consumer attitude toward enforcing the rules. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood noted,
I hope that this sends a signal to the rest of the airline industry that we expect airlines to respect the rights of air travelers. We will also use what we have learned from this investigation to strengthen protections for airline passengers subjected to long tarmac delays.
Continental and ExpressJet, in separate consent orders, were found to have violated the prohibition against unfair and deceptive practices in air transportation because ExpressJet failed to carry out a provision of Continental’s customer service commitment. The commitment requires that if a ground delay is approaching three hours, its operations center will determine if departure is expected within a reasonable time, and if not the carrier will take action as soon as possible to deplane passengers.
ExpressJet also failed to take timely actions required by its procedures, including notifying senior ExpressJet officials and providing appropriate Continental officials with notice of the delay. Continental was found to have engaged in an unfair and deceptive practice since, as the carrier marketing the flight 2816, Continental ultimately is responsible to its passengers on that flight.
This is a positive development for stranded passengers, but how many passengers are subject to a lengthy tarmac delay? Very few. Hopefully, the DOT will turn its attention to other issues that affect all of us.
(Photo: Caribb/flickr creative commons)
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I have a question, how much money are the victims of these tarmac delays getting? Ehh? Anyone?? Yeah, that’s what I thought, the government gets the money and the passengers get to sue the airline in order to get anything back.
Yes, how about full refund of the ticket to the passengers affected if a wait goes beyond a determined period of time. The economic incentive to avoid these delays is what will solve the problem.
Why isnt anyone blaming the GOVERNMENT? The airlines dont release these aircraft from it’s gates, ATC does. A governmental agency. The airlines DONT OWN the airports throughout this nation. They dont decide to shut down TSA and have everyone go home. In reality, the airlines are TENANTS with little control over services at the airport. Divert to another city and AIRPORT SERVICES should be available to anyone under that situation. Since when is an airline responsible to have IMMIGRATIONS AND CUSTOMS available to itself when it diverts due to weather which is a safety issue. That airport accepted the diversion, now handle the aircraft and it’s occupants which in some cases may require immigration and customs officiers.
Allow it to have a gate, any gate. Clear them, allow them to find hotel accommodations for the night, if need be. However, the one problem I see is that passengers disembark and seek hotels. The aircraft could possibly return to the skies after being serviced, refueled and weather improves…. etc. Those passengers leaving the airport property would lose a seat on that flight and possibly become, STRANDED. The carrier may or may not have service from the diverted airport.
The GOVERNMENT has a big hand in all of this, yet, they silently reframe from taking blame.