Citing an investigation that uncovered “numerous serious violations” over a four-year period involving passengers with disabilities, the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced today it has fined American Airlines $50 million. The violations included instances of “unsafe physical assistance that at times resulted in injuries and undignified treatment of wheelchair users, in addition to repeated failures to provide prompt wheelchair assistance,” according to the DOT.
In addition, the investigation revealed that American’s negligence had damaged or delayed the return of thousands of wheelchairs over the investigative period. Testifying at a February meeting with the DOT, Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, who lost both legs serving during the Iraq War, said of her wheelchair, “If this is broken, you’ve broken my legs.”
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement, “The era of tolerating poor treatment of airline passengers with disabilities is over. With this penalty, we are setting a new standard of accountability for airlines that violate the civil rights of passengers with disabilities … [W]e’re aiming to change how the industry behaves and prevent these kinds of abuses from happening in the first place.”
