American Airlines to pay record $50 million fine over its treatment of disabled passengers

American Airlines has agreed to a record $50 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Transportation for violating laws that protect airline passengers with disabilities. 

In an investigation into the carrier, the Transportation Department said it uncovered numerous infractions, including cases of American providing “unsafe physical assistance” to passengers. The alleged treatment “at times resulted in injuries and undignified treatment of wheelchair users,” the agency said in an announcement Wednesday. 

The agency also accused American of mishandling or damaging thousands of passengers’ wheelchairs from 2019 to 2023, leaving them without their mobility devices. 

“The era of tolerating poor treatment of airline passengers with disabilities is over,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement Wednesday. “With this penalty, we are setting a new standard of accountability for airlines that violate the civil rights of passengers with disabilities. By setting penalties at levels beyond the 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,” he said.

The airline came under public fire over a 2023 video that showed crew members mishandling a passenger’s wheelchair. The video, which was viewed millions of times on social media, shows a baggage handler sending a wheelchair crashing down and off a ramp.

Disability-related grievances on the rise

The Transportation Department in 2022 established an Airline Passengers with Disabilities Bill of Rights. Current federal regulations require that airlines:

• Return passengers’ wheelchairs and mobility devices to them in a timely manner, and in the condition in which they were received.
• Help passengers with disabilities get on and off aircraft and move through the airport.

Although incidents of airlines mistreating customers with disabilities are not unique to American, Transportation Department regulators determined that the carrier was “one of the worse performers among U.S. airlines in terms of both the total number of wheelchairs- and scooters- mishandling claims and the rate of mishandling claims,” according to the announcement.

“The problems that we have uncovered in our investigation are not confined to one airline,” Buttigieg said in a call with reporters. “We have other active investigations into a number of U.S. airlines for similar violations.”

“We believe today’s action sends a clear message to the airline industry that they need to improve their operations and their compliance with the law to ensure that all passengers fly with the dignity, respect and safety that they both deserve and are entitled to,” he added.

Disability-related grievances last year rose by more than a quarter compared with 2022, the Transportation Department reported in July.

Though they would like to travel by plane, many disabled Americans forego air travel out of fear of not being sufficiently accommodated by airlines, according to an April study from the Century Foundation. 

American Airlines to pay record fine

According to the settlement, American Airlines will pay a $25 million fine to the U.S. Treasury Department. The remaining $25 million will be invested in airline equipment to reduce incidents of wheelchair damage and in a wheelchair tagging system designed to better track the mobility devices. Additionally, funds will go toward compensating passengers whose rights the agency said were violated from 2019 to 2023. 

American said it is committed to improving the travel experience for customers who use wheelchairs and other mobility devices. For example, the company has installed wheelchair lifts at more than 20 stations, including at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Texas, two of American’s largest hubs. 

Through September, the mishandling rate for all mobility devices on American flights had fallen 36% over the last two years, according to the carrier.

“Today’s agreement reaffirms American’s commitment to taking care of all of our customers,” Julie Rath, American senior vice president of airport operations, reservations and service recovery, said in a statement on Wednesday.