The year 2017 has been full of horrifying tales of flying commercial. From the doctor who was forcibly removed from an overbooked United Airlines flight to a scorpion on board another United plane, flying has become a somewhat nightmarish experience.
Last Friday the Department of Transportation (DOT) fined Frontier Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta for violating various consumer protection rules.
According to DOT, Frontier Airlines was slapped with the biggest fine. The airline was ordered to pay $400,000 for violating oversales and disability rules. American Airlines was fined $250,000 for failing to make timely refunds to passengers, while Delta was fined $200,000 for filing inaccurate baggage reports. (Please note that Delta's fine is unrelated to the airline's recent tiff with Ann Coulter.)
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According to DOT, Frontier Airlines "failed to seek volunteers before bumping passengers involuntarily, failed to provide bumped passengers the required written notice describing their rights, and failed to provide proper compensation to passengers in a timely manner.” The department reviewed over 200 complaints against the airline.
DOT also found that Frontier failed to provide passengers with a disability prompt as well as adequate wheelchair assistance while boarding or exiting its aircrafts.
In a statement released by Frontier, the airline said it “remains committed to complying with DOT rules" and it has “taken steps including introducing a new reporting system." According to Reuters, the airline must add a new quality assurance management position by September 1.
American Airlines responded that it's “committed to providing timely refunds to our customers.”
Delta has not yet commented on the fine, but DOT noted that the airline’s underreporting of baggage claims “made Delta’s ranking in the Department’s Air Travel Consumer Report seem better than it was at various times."