United Airlines, the second largest US carrier, was fined with $2.75 million by the US government for a series of reported incidents citing that they have been mistreating disabled passengers. The fine will also cover for instances that stranded passengers on delayed flights for more than three hours.
Bloomberg reported that the Department of Transportation has received a number of “disability-related complaints” relating how the airline badly treated passengers in wheelchairs or individuals who needed extra assistance.
The agency’s investigators discovered that United was not being very helpful to their customers as they board and leave the planes. The recent probe also revealed that passengers were forced to wait for more than three hours during delayed flights, without permitting them to leave the planes.
“It is our duty to ensure that travelers with disabilities have access to the services they need, and that when significant tarmac delays happen, travelers are not left on the plane,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.
United has agreed to pay $500,000 of the fine for the expansion of its mobile app, according to Reuters. This way, customers can easily address their disability-related concerns.
Jon Roitman, senior vice-president of United Air released a statement on Thursday, acknowledging how this issue will be handled accordingly for their disabled customers. He said: "We expect this to greatly improve our ability to have wheelchairs where they need to be, when they need to be there, so that our customers can get on their way home or to their next destination with ease.”
The $750,000 of the fine, according to Los Angeles Times, will cover for the six reported incidents which have stranded passengers on the tarmac for more than three hours. The publication shared that the incidents happened at Chicago O’Hare International Airport on 2013 and at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport on May 2015.
In 2010, a rule was implemented prohibiting commercial airlines from holding passengers for more than three hours on a delayed flight without giving them the chance to exit the plane.
It’s yet to be determined whether more reports citing the same incidents will emerge following this investigation on United.
