The US Transportation Department fined American Airlines and Delta for violating long tarmac delay rules.
American was fined $1 million and Delta $750,000 for exceeding the maximum limit of three hours stuck on the tarmac.
Both airlines had $450,000 credited for compensating passengers and taking specific measures to reduce any further tarmac delays.
Rules prohibit airlines from allowing domestic flights to remain on the tarmac for more than three hours without giving passengers the opportunity to deplane.
DOT blamed American Airlines’ 13 tarmac delays since December 2015 on ‘gate mismanagement.’
The airline disputed this, blaming the delays on ‘exceptional weather events.’
It now has ‘procedures in place to help better accommodate our customers when inclement weather occurs,’ AA spokesperson Shannon Gilson said.
The Delta tarmac delays were a result of ‘an extraordinary, unanticipated, and unpredictable system outage in the data center at Delta’s Atlanta hub,’ the airline said.
Passengers were not able to deplane despite ‘no safety, security or Air Traffic Control reason for not doing so,’ the DOT said.
