Sorry....I'm missing your point here.
I don't know what they are suppose to do with the fines levied. What is your understanding of the system? Are you advocating $100,000 settlements for each passenger stranded for 45 minutes past the deadlines?

USMCFLYR

 

Luckily, the "30 or more passenger seats" does not include the TSA guy hanging off the AOA probe.

If this was CHQ, Bedford would give the Flight Attendants a wrench and tell them to take seats off the plane until they met the requirements. The passengers can stand.

 

Well yes, I suppose you did miss my point.

The point was to highlight the misrepresentation of what the FAA promises to the public it will do to correct irresponsibility within the airlines vs. What they actually demonstrate in reality. Here they claim they'll come down hard on the carriers with an X figure per passenger as the potential fine, but assess only 3.5% of that. Considering it was a single carrier with multiple infractions on a day where no other carrier had any and arguably a worst-case scenario for this fine, it's slap on the wrist.

If you want another example of my point, the NPRM FT/DT limits as a result of the Colgan accident would be something to consider. Years later and still nowhere to be found.

Bottom line: When it comes to the Feds policing the airlines, it's a joke.

 

What's dynamic manning?

 

So the fine was only a fraction of the $27,500 per passenger?
OK - does that mean that mitigating circumstances are taken into account when dishing out the fines?
Who decides these fines - a panel? Made of whom? Judges?
Are you saying that for any reason the deadline is broken that the maximum penalty should be awarded? It isn't like that is other aspects of the law.
You didn't say where the money goes when fines are given. Do you know?

As for policing airlines....if not the gov't, who?
The airlines themselves? From what I see on this forum it seems that the last people you would want policing airlines are the airlines (management) themselves.

USMCFLYR

 

No, personally I think mitigating circumstances should be POTENTIALLY considered. AMR Eagle is owned by a corporation that paid more for the carpeting in their training center then they will for this infraction. If this was Great Lakes we're talking about, I could understand your argument. Having worked there for two decades prior to this, I can see that FAA threat did nothing to alter their operational decisions and thus they got their pants pulled down (but only just enough so we all can see their butt crack).

My point is that it IS the airlines policing themselves to a major degree, hence the slap on the wrist. Wasn't Southwests supervisory management caught in collusion with the FAA to overlook a lot of things ?

Obviously we disagree about this issue and this embarrassing example of another regulatory faliure of the airline industry due to its incestuous dysfunctionality. I can live with that.

 

I'd like to see the circumstances of what happened. Seems like they were taken into account. Does AE control the gates and ground personnel? It very well could have been American that refused to make a gate available for them or American ground personnel that decided to take a break because they don't want to work a regional flight or a shift change.

 

Then you aren't understanding my questions.
I have no argument on this matter and it would be hard to disagree about this issue since I am asking questions, not making statements.
I don't understand how these fines come about other than some Passenger Bill of Rights that sought some sort of compensation for passengers and some fine to be viewed as punishment for an airline for breaking some deadline. According to the article, the number of tarmac delays is down quite a bit since the enacting of the PBOR. I figured that the airlines would just cancel flights that might get close, but it seems that you are saying that airlines can absorb a near million dollar fine without any problems.

USMCFLYR

 

Nope definately a major management screw up.... Aircraft in the penalty box with all the gates full, all inbound crews were swapping, all outbound crews waiting for aircraft to come. NO ONE wanted to let the crews in the terminal take the aircraft that were already parked at the gates. On top of it dispatch was still sending planes to ORD instead of delaying them at the outstations, which they could have esp with the 30 min BMI CMI PIA AZO MSN GRB etc flights. All were still dispatched to ORD with this problem going on.

 

As I recall the weather wasn't all that bad that day, and AE was the only carrier in ORD to be having issues, right?

I'm not a big union OR mgt. rah rah guy, but this one was totally self induced.

And no, this is NOT a big fine to these guys. Just a cost of doing business.