Japan Airlines has been slapped with a fine of $300,000 by the US transportation department for violating tarmac delay rules.
It kept passengers stuck on planes for several hours on two occasions.
In the first incident on January 4, a bad weather delay forced a New York bound jet to land in Chicago.
However airline staff required to help passengers off the plane weren’t available for four hours.
A second incident in May led to five hours on the tarmac for passengers due to refuelling and awaiting a change of flight crew.
Only a portion of the $300,000 will likely be paid as the US DOT has waived $60,000 which is equivalent to the amount the airline paid out to passengers in compensation, and a further $120,000 is waived if JAL avoids any similar incidents over the next 12 months.
JAL blamed both on weather related issues.
