ATLANTA – The U.S. Department of Transportation this week fined Comair $275,000 “for violating federal rules regarding passengers denied boarding” – better known as bumped passengers – “on oversold flights.”
“Our bumping rules are designed to protect passengers when airlines overbook a flight,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. “We expect carriers to comply with these rules and will take enforcement action when they do not.”
The DOT’s Aviation Enforcement Office opened an investigation into Comair after receiving customer complaints.
The investigation “revealed numerous cases in which Comair failed to solicit volunteers to leave overbooked flights and provide passengers with the appropriate denied boarding compensation” and that the airline “filed inaccurate reports with DOT on the number of passengers involuntarily denied boarding,” the DOT said in a news release.
According to the DOT, airlines must “seek volunteers willing to give up their seats for compensation” if a flight is oversold. However, if an airline does bump passengers because not enough are passengers willing to give up their seats, the airline must give those passengers “a written statement describing their rights and explaining how it decides who will be bumped from an oversold flight,” according to the DOT.
Involuntarily bumped passengers usually also receive up to $800 for giving up their seats.
Based in Cincinnati, Comair is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta Airlines.
