American Eagle fined for tarmac delays

http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...ays/51188972/1

In the first penalty of its kind, the Transportation Department fined
American Eagle $900,000 today for lengthy tarmac delays when
thunderstorms swept Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on May 29.

By Ben Mutzabaugh, USA TODAY

"We put the tarmac rule in place to protect passengers, and we take any
violation very seriously," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in
announcing the fine. "We will work to ensure that airlines and airports
coordinate their resources and plans to avoid keeping passengers delayed
on the tarmac."

American Eagle, the only airline with lengthy delays at O'Hare that day,
agreed to the settlement it blamed on a slow-moving weather system that
resulted in airport congestion. The airline offered customers an apology
with vouchers for future travel or frequent-flier miles.

"American Eagle is absolutely committed to the safety of our customers
and employees, and regrets the inconvenience these delays caused," said
airline President and CEO Dan Garton. "We take our responsibility to
comply with all of the department's requirements very seriously and have
already put in place processes to avoid such an occurrence in the
future."

The department created fines of up to $27,500 per passenger in April
2010 when travelers are stuck on planes delayed on tarmacs longer than
three hours.

Transportation officials credited the threat of fines with dramatically
reducing the number of tarmac delays. Airlines, which blame
unpredictable weather for the delays, say they're canceling more flights
rather than risk fines.

The 20 long tarmac delays in the 12 months after the fines were created
reflected an enormous drop from the 693 such delays reported in the year
before the fines.

So far this year, American Eagle has had 16 tarmac delays of at least
three hours, according to the department. That's twice as many as
second-place Delta Air Lines.

O'Hare registered 20 of the 39 the department counted so far this year.
On May 29, American Eagle had 15 flights arriving at O'Hare that each
had tarmac delays of at least three hours. A total of 608 passengers
were aboard the affected flights.

The airline must pay $650,000 of the fine within 30 days and up to
$250,000 more in refunds, vouchers or frequent-flier miles for the
delayed passengers. The fine comes after 23 weather diversions on Oct.
29 from New York-area airports to Bradley International Airport in
Hartford, Conn. One JetBlue flight spent 7½ hours on the tarmac. The
government is investigating whether fines are warranted in that case,
too.