U.S. Fines Frontier, American And Delta For Violating Consumer Protection Rules

(RTTNews) - The U.S. Department of Transportation or DOT said it has fined three airlines - Frontier Airlines Inc. (FRNT), American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) and Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) - hundreds of thousands of dollars for violating airline consumer protections rules.

The DOT levied the biggest fine of $400,000 on Frontier Airlines for violating the Department's oversales and disability rules.

American Airlines was fined $250,000 for failing to make timely refunds to passengers, while Delta Air Lines was imposed a fine of $200,000 for filing inaccurate baggage reports to the Department.

According to the DOT, Frontier failed to seek volunteers before bumping passengers involuntarily and also failed to provide proper compensation to passengers in a timely manner.

The DOT also found that Frontier failed to provide passengers with a disability prompt as well as adequate wheelchair assistance while boarding or exiting aircraft and moving within the terminal. In addition, the airline did not "adequately respond" to complaints filed by passengers with disabilities.

Delta was fined for underreporting to the DOT the number of mishandled baggage complaints it received from passengers. The underreporting made Delta's ranking in the Department's Air Travel Consumer Report seem better than it was at various times.

The DOT found that American Airlines failed to process refund requests in a timely manner.