The US government has fined American Airlines $50 million for failing to provide wheelchair assistance to passengers with disabilities and damaging thousands of wheelchairs over a five-year period. The Transportation Department said that “in some cases,” wheelchair users were injured, but it did not give a number.
American says it has made significant investments to improve the handling of wheelchairs. The airline will be credited $25 million, or half of its civil penalty, for those investments and compensation paid to affected passengers, according to a consent order.
The incidents raised by the Transportation Department occurred between 2019 and 2023.
The investigation was prompted in part by three formal complaints the Paralyzed Veterans of America filed against American.
Investigators also seized on video of an incident at Miami International Airport last year in which workers slid a wheelchair down a baggage ramp where it crashed into the bottom of the chute, flipped over and skittered across the concrete.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said American Airlines “appeared to be one of the worst offenders,” but the problems that investigators found “are not confined to one airline.” He said the department is conducting similar investigations into other airlines, but he would not name them.
“The era of tolerating poor treatment of wheelchair users on airplanes is over,” Buttigieg declared, adding that American’s mistreatment of travellers with disabilities was “not just undignified but unsafe.”
From 2019 through 2023, American mishandled more than 10,760 wheelchairs and mobility scooters, according to Transportation Department figures. Only Southwest Airlines, at more than 11,100, had more incidents. Spirit Airlines had the highest percentage of errors in several of the years, according to the department.
American said it has invested more than $175 million this year on infrastructure, training and other steps to improve the travel experience for people with disabilities and has cut its rate of mishandling wheelchairs and power scooters by more than 20%, and fewer than one in every 1,000 customers who ask for wheelchair assistance wind up complaining to the airline.
The fine against American follows the Transportation Department’s proposed rule to make it a violation of federal law if airlines damage wheelchairs or don’t return them promptly to the owners. The rule would also require annual training for airline employees who handle wheelchairs or lift passengers with disabilities. Buttigieg said the rule is being finalized, but he gave no timetable for completion.
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