Oct. 23 (UPI) — The Transportation Department on Wednesday slapped American Airlines with a $50 million penalty over breaking federal laws protecting the disabled, particularly those using wheelchairs.
The department said an investigation revealed that from 2019 to 2023, the airline “repeatedly failed” to provide safe assistance to wheelchair-bound passengers. It said the carrier mishandled thousands of wheelchairs, damaging them or delaying their return.
The Transportation Department said American Airlines also failed regularly to provide prompt wheelchair assistance, resulting in injuries and “undignified treatment” of wheelchair passengers.
“The era of tolerating poor treatment of airline passengers with disabilities is over,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “With this penalty, we are setting a new standard of accountability for airlines that violate the civil rights of passengers with disabilities.”
The Department of Transportation said the American Airlines fine is 25 times larger than the previous record penalty for violating disability protections.
“By setting penalties at levels beyond a mere cost of doing business for airlines, we’re aiming to change how the industry behaves and prevent these kinds of abuses from happening in the first place,” Buttigieg said.
Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said people with disabilities should have the confidence in knowing that they will receive prompt and timely assistance that assures their freedom to travel.
“We applaud the Department of Transportation’s landmark civil rights agreement to uphold the dignity of passengers with disabilities in air travel.”
