The US Department of Transportation is fining JetBlue $2 million for long-delayed flights, marking the first time the agency has financially penalized a company for consistently failing to follow through on its plans.
Between June 2022 and November 2023, the DOT determined that four airline flights were at least 30 minutes late more than half of the time they were extended for four consecutive months, a violation of agency rules that prohibit airlines from advertising. misleading and false travel plans. The offending flights were between New York City and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Florida; New York City and Fort Lauderdale; and Fort Lauderdale and Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
“Chronic and illegal flight delays make air travel unreliable for travellers. “Today’s action puts the airline industry on notice that their airline plans are truthful,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a statement. “The department will enforce the law against airlines with chronic delays or illegal scheduling practices to protect healthy competition and ensure that passengers are treated fairly.”
Based on data provided by JetBlue, the DOT estimated that the airline itself was responsible for more than 70 percent of the four flight delays.
The fine is a drop in the bucket for JetBlue, which had $2.4 billion in cash in the third quarter of 2024.
Half of the $2 million the airline must pay will go to the US Treasury in the form of cash, while the DOT ordered the company to pay the other half to customers affected by the delay, who will receive at least $75 each.
JetBlue agreed to the payment but denied any liability. The company said staffing and operational issues with air traffic control systems in the Northeast were “the cause” of the delay.
“JetBlue has spent tens of millions of dollars in investments in its systems and process improvements to address air traffic control issues … These past and ongoing efforts are reflected in the significant and ongoing improvements in JetBlue’s operations over the past two years since. the flights in question have occurred,” the company wrote in response to the DOT permit order.
In announcing the deal with JetBlue, the DOT also highlighted another recent achievement in regulating the airline industry. Under the Biden administration, the agency said, it has issued nearly $225 million in fines to airlines for violating consumer protection laws, triple the amount of fines it issued between 1996 and 2022.