Originally Posted by
Captain Bligh
Is there a fine being levied?
3 United flights had long tarmac delays in June
11:25 am ET 08/10/2010- Associated Press Online
The government says three flights in June sat on the tarmac for more than three hours, but there was no increase in the cancellation rate of flights among the nation's biggest airlines.
All three were United Airlines flights, and all broke the three-hour limit by five minutes or less.
More than 268 flights were delayed for more than three hours in June 2009.
June was the second month the tarmac-delay rule was in effect. Airlines face stiff fines if they do not return passengers to the terminal within the three-hour limit.
The Transportation Department reported the statistics Tuesday as part of its monthly on-time report. Hawaiian Airlines again operated the most flights on time, followed by Alaska Airlines and US Airways.
Bet DOT is stuck on this one. The unintended consequences of the rule are become more and more apparent. Note how eager they are to report the cancellation rate hasn't gone up, in the first sentence even.
If they levy the fines, you're going to see more cancellations.
I would wager this rule is quietly set aside, with fines to be witheld until we reach some arbitrary number of delays, at which time USAToday will freak, CNN will will follow, and the public will become outraged when the TV tells them to be. Politicians will gladly jump in the middle. Then DOT will try to collect on some fines, the airlines will cancel some more, and there will be some negotiation, and promises will be made.
Of course, if they
don't collect the fines for a while, then try to collect later on, there will be allegations of favoritism. So far, United acounts for 6 out of 7 flights identified as having missed the window.
In a perverse way, the rule will "work": delays of more than three hours will be few. There will a working equilibirum will be struck between cancellations and fines, with fines probably not being collected, and cancellations being elevated only enough to meet delay targets, which will let the DOT claim it's protecting consumers. So well protected they won't even have to worry about setting foot on the airplane...
