and gets fined for it.

The Chicago Tribune has a story about United Airlines self-reported 3+ hour tarmac delay violations in May.  In short, United diverted some aircraft due to weather problems.  These aircraft were on the “tarmac” for varying times but all in excess of 3 hours.  United ensured these passengers had water, snacks and were offered the opportunity to de-plane.  Then they self-reported this as a 3 Hour Rule violation and later determined that, no, in fact, they had complied.

The Department of Transportation hit them with a $12,000 fine for wasting their time.  $6000 paid now and $6000 to be paid if there are future violations of this nature. 

“United’s misreporting of this data wasted valuable Department resources,” said the Department of Transportation

I would offer that someone needs to smack the DoT on the back of the head for raising a storm about something that can and will happen when a new rule is introduced.  I don’t think it’s a perfect world and I realize that bureacracies can act oddly when presented with rules but anyone at the DoT with good sense should have floated the idea that this just be allowed to fade away.  The amount of the fine is trivial for both sides.  However, it was an arbitrary and petty way to behave towards someone trying to comply with a new rule.  It is also a great way to earn the enmity of the public in this kind of rule making.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax