United's Penalty Is $80,000, Delta's $375,000
The Department of Transportation Thursday assessed a
civil penalties against Delta Air Lines for violating federal rules
regarding passengers denied boarding ("bumped") on oversold
flights, and United Airlines for failing to disclose to consumers
when flights sold by the carrier were being operated under a
code-sharing arrangement.
On the Delta fine, U.S Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said
"Airlines often oversell flights in order to ensure that they fill
all their seats, and the bumping rules are designed to protect
consumers when this happens. We take these rules seriously and will
take enforcement action when necessary."
Delta was ordered to cease and desist from further violations
and assessed a civil penalty of $375,000. Up to $200,000 of
the penalty may be used by the carrier to implement systems not
required by the rules that will benefit consumers.
When a flight is oversold, DOT regulations require airlines to
seek volunteers willing to give up their seats for
compensation. If not enough volunteers can be found and the
carrier must bump passengers involuntarily, the carrier is required
to give bumped passengers a written statement describing their
rights and explaining how it decides who will be bumped from an
oversold flight. In most cases, passengers bumped
involuntarily also are entitled to cash compensation of up to
$800.
On the United fine, LaHood was equally strident. "When consumers
buy an airline ticket, they have a right to know which airline will
be operating their flight," he said. "We will continue to
ensure that carriers are complying with the code-sharing
rules."
United was ordered to cease and desist from further violations
and assessed a civil penalty of $80,000.
Under code-sharing, a carrier will sell tickets on flights that
use its designator code but are operated by a separate
airline. DOT rules require airlines to disclose to consumers,
before they book a flight, if the flight is operated under a
code-sharing arrangement. The disclosure must include the
corporate name of the transporting carrier and any other name under
which the flight is offered to the
public.
The Department's Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings
made a number of telephone calls to United's reservations line this
past January to determine if the carrier's employees were advising
consumers of code-sharing arrangements as required by the
regulations. The Enforcement Office found that United's
reservations agents failed to disclose code-sharing during a
substantial number of those calls. The full Delta report is
available as docket DOT-OST-2009-0001, and the
United report is available as docket
DOT-OST-2009-0001.