United Airlines has become one of the first U.S. carriers to be fined under new rules meant to prevent long ground delays, the Chicago Tribune reports. But in a twist which one observer calls “pretty much ridiculous,” UA did not actually break any rules, but got fined anyway.
The new Department of Transportation regulations, which went into place in April, threaten airlines with fines of up to $27,500 per passenger for each flight delayed on the ground for more than three hours. Carriers can avoid the fine by ensuring passengers are provided food and water and given the opportunity to return to the terminal prior to the three-hour mark.
In May, United was forced to divert four Denver-bound flights to Colorado Springs after thunderstorms snarled air traffic at Denver. As the stormy weather continued in Denver, United's planes remained grounded in Colorado Springs while the airline awaited clearance from air traffic control to send those four flights onward to Denver.
Citing DOT data, the Tribune says the ground delays for those flights ranged from 3 hours, 10 minutes to 4 hours, 41 minutes. United says it gave customers snacks and water, and offered all a chance to deplane prior to the 3 hour mark. The carrier, saying it wanted to comply with the letter of the new law, then reported the delays to DOT.
So far, so good – so why the fine? It appears that UA tried a little too hard to follow the rules. The DOT says United should have stopped the clock on the delays at the point where passengers were allowed to disembark. So DOT considered UA’s reporting to contain inaccurate data and imposed the fine for wasting “valuable Department resources.”
Not surprisingly, UA is taken aback with this display of bureaucracy run wild. "It is unfortunate that our effort to be fully transparent resulted in our inadvertently reporting four flight delays where we complied with regulations and with our own procedures to ensure the comfort and safety of our customers and employees," United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson told the Tribune.
Other industry observers agree with United’s frustration: "To hell with 'better safe than sorry,' apparently," wrote Denver Business Journal blogger Ed Sealover. "They're basically penalizing [United] for doing everything right," SmarterTravel.com editor Anne Banas told the Houston Chronicle. "It's pretty much ridiculous," she added.
