United Airlines fined $2.7M for violating consumer rules

United Airlines was fined $2.75 million for mistreating disabled air travelers, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) announced today.

DOT said that its review of “a significant increase” in the number of disability-related complaints against the carrier in 2014 “revealed that United failed to provide passengers with disabilities prompt and adequate assistance” getting on and off its airplanes and in moving through terminals at Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Denver International Airport, Newark International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport. Investigators found the carrier wasn’t promptly helping these passengers on and off planes, and was slow to return wheelchairs and other devices. Because of severe weather, passengers were stuck on a plane for more than three hours.

Besides a $2 million fine, United has agreed to spend $650,000 to train personnel and develop a pilot program to help disabled passengers order wheelchairs and other assistance.

According to a rule of 2010, commercial airlines are prohibited from keeping passengers in delayed flight for greater than three hours without giving an option to get off the plane.

In response to the fine, United posted an announcement about its efforts to serve passengers with disabilities on its website. At the forefront was an incident in October when a passenger with cerebral palsy was forced to crawl out of a United flight, as crew failed to provide the man with a special wheelchair.

The five O’Hare flights exceeded the three-hour threshold by 16 to 64 minutes, documents show.

About $750,000 of the fines are related to six lengthy tarmac delays which took place between 2013 and 2015. United invested $3.8 million on those facility improvements in 2015 and plans to spend $1.5 million more this year.

In 2013, the department fined United about $1.2 million for lengthy tarmac delays at O’Hare.

The airline, part of United Continental Holdings Inc, was also ordered not to break those rules in future, the department said in a statement. “We’ve launched automated aircraft parking systems at two of our largest hubs, enabling us to reduce taxi times and safely guide aircraft to the gate when conditions might have previously prevented us from accommodating our customers”.