Mangled Wheelchairs, Scheduling Meltdowns And Antisemitism: How Airlines Racked Up Over $275 Million In Fines In 4 Years
Government scrutiny is the most potent force in maintaining operating standards at most airlines
Over $275 million in fines have been levied against airlines across the past four years. Commercial aviation isn't typically a marketplace that can regulate itself. Customers rarely have the power to force change with their wallets collectively. Government agencies are the main force ensuring that airlines treat their passengers fairly.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has made a serious effort in recent years to strengthen consumer protections for airline passengers, including mandating automatic refunds for cancellations and significant delays. However, this wasn't a case of the federal government being proactive. Carriers allowed appalling practices that garnered hundreds of millions of dollars in fines. Here are the most egregious cases:
$225,000 - Police Free Passengers From Eurowings Flight
USDOT fined German carrier Eurowings $225,000 in March 2023. The penalty concerned a July 2019 incident at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The Eurowings Flight EW1182 from Dusseldorf was scheduled to land in Miami but diverted to Fort Lauderdale due to weather conditions.
The flight's 268 passengers were stuck onboard for over five hours as pilots refused to deplane in Fort Lauderdale. The flight crew was waiting for Miami's airport to reopen, hoping to fly to their scheduled destination. The passengers eventually called the local police, who dispatched officers to the scene and freed them from the plane.
$300,000 - Volaris Leaves 2 Flights On Tarmac For Hours
USDOT fined Mexican carrier Volaris Airlines $300,000 in May 2024 for effectively doubling the ante. The department bans tarmac delays of four hours or more without allowing passengers the chance to get off the plane. Volaris violated this not once but twice.
In 2021, a flight from Guadalajara to Dallas Fort Worth diverted to Houston and the passengers were stuck on the plane for five hours and 32 minutes. Volaris allowed this to happen again in 2022 when a flight from Mexico City to Chicago O'Hare diverted to St. Louis. This time, passengers were stuck onboard for four hours and 35 minutes without food or water.
$1.8 Million - Emirates Flew With JetBlue’s Carrier Code Over Iraq
USDOT fined Emirates $1.8 million in June 2024 for flying too low over Iraq while using JetBlue's designator code in 2021 and 2022. Codesharing is a common practice that allows airlines to sell tickets on flights operated by partner carriers as if they were their own. Despite being a UAE flag carrier, Emirates must operate with American regulations while codesharing with JetBlue. The FAA prohibits U.S. carriers from flying beneath 32,000 feet over Iraq.
$1.9 Million - United Leaves 3,218 Passengers Stuck On Tarmac
USDOT fined United Airlines $1.9 million in September 2021 for numerous tarmac delays. United violated the four-hour rule with 20 domestic and five international flights between December 2015 and February 2021. Major carriers rarely ever garner minor penalties for one-off incidents. If they break a rule, they've likely done it more than once due to the sheer volume of flights they operate.
$2.5 Million - Multiple Airlines Owed Nearly $1 Billion In Refunds
USDOT established new rules in May 2024 that required automatic customer refunds for canceled and delayed flights. Several airlines immediately violated these requirements. Lufthansa, KLM and South African Airways owed over $900 million in refunds, and USDOT fined the carriers $2.5 million in June.
$4 Million - Lufthansa Kicked 128 Jewish Passengers Off Flight
USDOT fined Lufthansa $4 million in October 2024 for discriminating against Jewish passengers. The German flag carrier banned 128 passengers in traditional Orthodox Jewish attire from completing a May 2022 flight from New York to Budapest, Hungary via Frankfurt, Germany. The captain claimed to airline security that the passengers were being disruptive and not following cabin crew instructions. However, many of the passengers kicked off the flight in Frankfurt didn't even know each other, but all of them were Jewish.
$4.1 Million - American Trapped 5,821 Passengers On Tarmac
The $4.1 million fine American Airlines received in August 2023 for breaking the four-hour rule would dwarf United Airlines' penalty. American left 43 domestic flights on the tarmac for more than four hours between 2018 and 2021. Half of the fine was used to compensate the 5,821 passengers impacted.
$50 Million - American Mistreated Passengers With Disabilities
American Airlines would get in trouble with federal regulators again just a year later. USDOT levied a $50 million fine against American on Wednesday for mistreating passengers with disabilities between 2019 and 2023. There were multiple cases of poor physical assistance for wheelchair users. The carrier also mishandled thousands of wheelchairs, including one incident caught on camera.
$66 Million - Qantas Booked 86,000 Passengers On Non-Existent Flights
The United States isn't the only place cracking down on appalling behavior from airlines. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission sued Qantas for selling tickets to over 86,000 passengers on flights that simply didn't exist. Australia's flag carrier settled the case for $66 million.
$140 Million - Southwest Stranded Over 2 Million Flyers
Southwest Airlines was fined a record $140 million in December 2023 for its infamous organizational meltdown during the 2022 holiday season. The debacle canceled around 16,900 flights and stranded over 2 million passengers. Appropriately, the penalty was 30 times larger than any other fine levied by the federal government against an airline. Passenger air travel is improving, but it's not by the carriers' choice.