$2 million penalty includes compensation for harmed JetBlue customers and is first ever DOT enforcement action for chronic flight delays
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced today a $2 million penalty against JetBlue for operating multiple chronically delayed flights. The penalty marks the first time DOT has fined an airline for chronic flight delays – a prohibited unrealistic scheduling practice which can harm both passengers and fair competition across the airline industry. Half of the penalty is going to compensate JetBlue customers affected by the airline’s chronic delays or any future disruptions caused by JetBlue within the next year. DOT has ongoing investigations into other airlines for unrealistic flight schedules.
“Illegal chronic flight delays make flying unreliable for travelers. Today’s action puts the airline industry on notice that we expect their flight schedules to reflect reality,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “The department will enforce the law against airlines with chronic delays or unrealistic scheduling practices in order to protect healthy competition and ensure passengers are treated fairly.”
DOT rules prohibit airlines from promising unrealistic schedules that do not reflect actual flight departure and arrival times. Unrealistic scheduling is an unfair, deceptive, and anticompetitive practice that disrupts passengers’ travel plans, denies them reliable scheduling information, and allows airlines to unfairly capture business from competitors by misleading consumers. Chronically delaying a flight for more than four consecutive months is one form of unrealistic scheduling. Under DOT rules, a flight is chronically delayed if it is flown at least 10 times a month and arrives more than 30 minutes late more than 50 percent of the time. Cancellations are included as delays within this calculation.
DOT’s investigation uncovered that JetBlue operated four chronically delayed flights at least 145 times between June 2022 through November 2023. Each flight was chronically delayed for five straight months in a row – or more. Despite DOT warning JetBlue about the chronic delays on its flight between John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., the airline continued to operate three more chronically delayed flights between Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Fla. and JFK, and between Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and Windsor Locks, Conn.
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics estimates, based off of data submitted to DOT by JetBlue, that the airline was responsible for around [80] percent of the disruptions for the four chronically delayed flights. Regardless of the cause of the disruption for any specific flight, DOT rules provide airlines adequate time to fix their schedule after a flight becomes chronically delayed to avoid illegal unrealistic scheduling. JetBlue failed to do so.
DOT’s order requires JetBlue cease and desist its chronic flight delays and pay a $2 million penalty. JetBlue must pay half of the penalty – $1 million in cash – directly to the U.S. Treasury. The other half of the penalty goes to compensate JetBlue passengers harmed by either the chronically delayed flights covered by the DOT’s order or any future flight cancellations or delays of three hours or more caused by JetBlue within the next year. The future compensation must be valued at a minimum of $75 for each harmed passenger.
Read the full consent order here .
President Biden and Secretary Buttigieg have advanced the largest expansion of airline passengers rights
Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the Department of Transportation has returned a record amount of refunds to travelers, issued the largest fines against airlines for failing passengers, and advanced the biggest expansion of airline consumer rights ever.
- Created a new rule to require airlines to provide automatic cash refunds to passengers when owed. The rule makes clear that airline passengers are entitled to a refund when their flight is canceled or significantly changed and they no longer wish to take that flight or be rebooked, when their checked baggage is significantly delayed, or when extra services they paid for – like Wi-Fi – are not provided. The rule also requires refunds to be automatic, prompt, in the original form of payment, and in the full amount paid.
- Passengers can better understand their new refund rights here .
- Created a new rule to protect consumers from costly surprise airline junk fees. The rule fosters a more competitive airline market by requiring airlines to disclose critical extra fees upfront – like change fees and baggage fees – to ensure consumers can better understand the true cost of their travel. The rule also bans “bait-and-switch” advertising tactics and requires airlines to clearly tell passengers upfront that a seat is included with the cost of their ticket, and they do not need to pay extra. Airlines have challenged this rule in court, and the court has put a temporary hold on implementation of the rule. The Department will continue to defend this rule and notes that nothing in the Court’s decision prevents airlines from voluntarily complying with this common-sense rule.
- Created a new rule to protect airline passengers with disabilities. The rule requires airlines to meet more rigorous new standards for assistance and mandates annual hands-on training for airline employees and contractors who physically assist passengers with disabilities and handle passengers’ wheelchairs. The rule also specifies actions that airlines must take when a wheelchair is damaged or delayed during transport and will ensure that people with disabilities can fly safely and with dignity.
- Secured enforceable guarantees from airlines to provide food, lodging, and other support when they strand passengers. After DOT launched flightrights.gov, all 10 large U.S. airlines committed to providing passengers with free rebooking, meals, hotel accommodations, and other amenities when they are responsible for causing a significant delay or cancellation. These are new commitments the airlines added to their customer service plans that DOT can legally ensure they adhere to through enforcement action.
- Ensured airline passengers received nearly $4 billion in refunds and reimbursements owed to them – including over $600 million owed to passengers affected by the Southwest Airlines holiday meltdown in 2022.
- Issued nearly $225 million in penalties against airlines for consumer protection violations since President Biden took office. In comparison, between 1996 and 2020, DOT collectively issued just over $70 million in penalties against airlines for consumer protection violations.
- Expanded the Department’s capacity to review air travel service complaints by partnering with a bipartisan group of state attorneys general, which will help hold airlines accountable and protect the rights of the traveling public. Attorneys general who have signed a memorandum of understanding with DOT will be able to access DOT’s complaint system in the near future.
- The Department of Transportation is currently pursuing additional rulemakings that would:
- Protect passengers stranded by airlines canceling or significantly changing their flights. DOT issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking public comment on requiring airlines to pay passengers cash compensation, rebook them for free on the next available flight, and cover meals, overnight lodging, and related transportation expenses when a disruption is airline-caused, such as a mechanical issue or an IT airline system breakdown.
- Ban family seating junk fees and guarantee that parents can sit with their children for no extra charge when they fly. Before President Biden and Secretary Buttigieg pressed airlines last year, no airline committed to guaranteeing fee-free family seating. Now, five airlines guarantee fee-free family seating, as the Department is working on its family seating junk fee ban proposal.