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.

FMI: http://airconsumer.dot.gov/publications/flyrights.htm#overbooking, www.regulations.gov