Allegiant Air and Hawaiian Airlines Fined for Violating Airline Consumer Protection Rules

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today fined Allegiant Air $250,000 and Hawaiian Airlines $125,000 for violating the Department’s airline consumer protections rules.

DOT’s Aviation Enforcement Office found that Allegiant Air failed to provide passengers with disabilities adequate and timely assistance in moving within airport terminals, and did not adequately respond to complaints filed by passengers with disabilities. In addition, Allegiant failed to provide timely responses to consumer complaints and failed to make prompt refunds to consumers when they were due.

The Department found that Hawaiian Airlines failed to provide adequate responses to individuals with disabilities who filed written complaints about damage to their assistive devices and failed to properly categorize and report disability-related complaints. In addition, Hawaiian underpaid denied boarding compensation to passengers who were involuntarily denied boarding.

The consent orders are available at www.regulations.gov, docket number DOT-OST-2018-0001.

DOT has redesigned its airline consumer website to make it easy for travelers to understand their rights: http://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer.