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New DOT Rules: Tarmac Delays Down, Cancellations Up

Business Travel — on July 9, 2010 2:06 pm

A380Facing steep fines for tarmac delays, domestic airlines have actively been reducing the amount of delays announced the Department of Transportation on Thursday.

The DOT reported that only five planes were delayed for more than three hours this past May. That’s a huge reduction when compared to the 34 flights that were delayed during the same time period last year.

May’s delays were the second-lowest monthly total recorded since the DOT started monitoring airline delays in October 2008.

May was also the first full month that a new federal rule went into effect that requires U.S. airlines to release passengers off planes for delays of more than three hours. Airlines failing comply to the rule can be fined up to $27,500 per passenger.

The new fees had airlines reducing the number of delays even in the months leading up to the implementation of the rule in April, when only four delays were reported. And though the rule was still several months away, long delays in March of 2010 only accounted for 25 instances compared to the 88 delays in March of 2009.

The drop in delays has many airline experts claiming victory for the DOT. However, The Air Transport Association, an Plane in flightorganization that represents many of the nation’s big airlines, has pointed out that the lack of delays not only can be attributed to good behavior on behalf of the airlines, but also has to do with good weather.

Of the five flight delays in May, four were United Airlines flights en route to Denver on May 26. The United flights were diverted to Colorado Springs because of weather.

Delta Air Lines made up the other delay. Both airlines have yet to be fined and are under investigation.

On the flip side, as many airline experts had hypothesized, airlines also chose to cancel more flights in May when compared to last year. In 2009, there were 4,792 flights that were canceled in May. This year the number of flights canceled jumped to 6,716 , reported the DOT.

By Adriana Padilla for PeterGreenberg.com.

Related Links: USA Today, Bloomberg News

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  • Myjoni

    On their best behavior?? Trust me they have a very long way to go. My wife and I flew first class on Delta from San Diego to Charlotte North Carolina. All I can say it was a flight from hell. Both my wife and I have decided that, absent some emergency, we have taken our last flight.
    It was a interesting decision as we are tour operators and it will directly affect our business.
    But we have a reputation to maintain and don’t want to be brushed with the ineptitude of the airline industry.

  • RNB

    The way I crunch the numbers, if the new tarmac-delay rules increased cancellations by as much as one percent, twice as many passengers were inconvenienced by having their flight cancelled as were saved from sitting on an airplane for more than three hours.

  • UG

    The government is too stupid to realize really how many people have been unconvinced with this new rule – just wait and see what’s going to happen when the weather situations really begin and it starts to affect allot of people. DOT claim victory, HA. I’ve sat on a plane in JFK and Newark for hours – but getting home was more important to me than anything – being canceled and stranded in an airport without a hotel because of this stupid rule, is not favorable.

  • wizbang

    Funny, but if airlines had treated passengers like people instead of farm animals they may not have had to deal with this legislation. I’ve had the opportunity to be stuck on the tarmac 4-5 hours 3 times in the past 2 years. On 2 of the flights people started to have medical problems (on one a diabetic needed food as her sugar was going too low) the flight attendant was rang and they only said “there was nothing they could do” a man went into the overhead and got some peanut-butter crackers and gave them to the other passenger. When we got off the plan the passenger was delayed for not staying in his seat. Similar issue with a passenger that needed to use the lav, she ended up going anyway (unfortunately she didn’t make it before she couldn’t hold her water)