The US Department of Transport has fined American Airlines $50 million (R872 million) for mistreatment of people with disabilities.
The penalty is 25 times the size of any previous penalty against an airline for violating disability regulations, according to the department. The penalty is for “numerous serious violations of the laws protecting airline passengers with disabilities between 2019 and 2023.
This includes unsafe physical assistance that resulted in injuries and undignified treatment of wheelchair users, failure to provide prompt wheelchair assistance and mishandling wheelchairs by damaging them or delaying their return, plus for leaving passengers without wheelchairs.
The department investigated complaints against the airline, including three formal complaints filed by the Paralyzed Veterans of America. American Airlines was found to be one of the worst US airlines in terms of the number of wheelchair and scooter mishandling claims.
“The era of tolerating poor treatment of airline passengers with disabilities is over,” said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “We are setting a new standard of accountability for airlines that violate the civil rights of passengers with disabilities.”
Similar investigations into other US airlines by the department are currently taking place. American Airlines must pay $25 million (R236 million) to the US Treasury and must spend the other half of the penalty on equipment to reduce incidents of wheelchair damage. The airline is obliged to invest in a system-wide wheelchair tagging system and compensate affected disabled passengers during a given timeframe.
