A joint investigation by the Department of Transportation and the Justice Department’s civil rights division has found American Airlines routinely violated rules meant to protect passengers in wheelchairs.
While announcing the resulting $50 million fine, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg explained that investigators learned that AA damaged “thousands” of wheelchairs and did not provide adequate assistance to disabled passengers.
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“One traveler with a disability told us in her words, ‘I was made to feel like a piece of luggage, so I do not fly anymore,'” Buttigieg said in the press conference.
He went on to declare that “tolerating the poor treatment of wheelchair users on airplanes is over” and explained that investigations into other airlines for similar problems were already happening.
The $50 million fine is the largest handed out for these types of violations. CNN reports that the Department of Transportation is “requiring the airline spend $25 million as a credit toward the total $50 million fine to reduce cases of damaged wheelchairs and make significant infrastructure upgrades.” If the follow-up finds that American has not made strides, it will then fine it the $25 million balance.
In a lengthy statement, American Airlines says that it has already made significant investments in fixing these problems and “takes all these complaints and claims seriously and works hard to remediate them.”
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