By Christine Chung and Mark Walker
Saying that American Airlines mistreated disabled air travelers who use wheelchairs, the U.S. Transportation Department on Wednesday announced a $50 million fine against the carrier. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called the agency’s penalty the highest ever levied against an airline for violating protections for flyers with disabilities.
The Transportation Department said that its investigation, which included reviewing complaints filed against American between 2019 and 2023, revealed “cases of unsafe physical assistance that at times resulted in injuries and undignified treatment of wheelchair users, in addition to repeated failures to provide prompt wheelchair assistance.”
In their complaints, passengers reported being roughly handled, even dropped on the ground, and their wheelchairs, which can cost up to tens of thousands of dollars, being damaged beyond repair.
At Miami International Airport, a ramp agent reportedly dropped a wheelchair down a baggage ramp, which then ricocheted onto the tarmac. At Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, American employees dropped a passenger on the floor while transferring her from an aisle chair to her seat on the plane.
Another traveler, flying from Portland to Dallas, said that his personal power wheelchair was so damaged during transit that he had to use a broken wheelchair for a month while he awaited a replacement.
“The era of tolerating poor treatment of airline passengers with disabilities is over,” Buttigieg said in a statement. “By setting penalties at levels beyond a mere cost of doing business for airlines, we’re aiming to change how the industry behaves and prevent these kinds of abuses from happening in the first place.”
American will pay half of the $50 million fine to the U.S. Treasury, with the company required to use the remaining $25 million for passenger compensation and equipment and systems upgrades aimed at reducing wheelchair delays and damage.
In a statement, the carrier said that it had a “long-standing commitment to serving passengers with disabilities” and that it would continue “significant actions” to improve their travel experience.
Customer claims for mishandled mobility devices had been reduced by more than 20% since 2022, the statement continued, and in 2024, the airline had spent $175 million in service, infrastructure and employee training to support passengers with disabilities. The carrier also said it will install more wheelchair lifts, which assist people and their mobility devices while entering and exiting airplanes, by the end of the year.
But according to Transportation Department data, American was one of the worst offenders among U.S. carriers of mishandled wheelchairs last year, improperly moving more than 2,500 of about 146,000 wheelchairs and other mobility devices on a plane, or about 2 per every 100 devices.
The Paralyzed Veterans of America, a nonprofit organization, had submitted three formal complaints about American to the Transportation Department. Carl Blake, the nonprofit’s CEO, lauded the agency for “making such a strong statement” with the penalty.
“We are confident this unprecedented enforcement will make it clear to the entire airline industry that passengers with mobility disabilities deserve to travel with the same level of safety and dignity as everyone else,” Blake said.
The fine follows recent actions by the Biden administration to prioritize the rights of passengers with disabilities. This year, the Transportation Department proposed new rules that would make it a violation of federal law if airlines damaged wheelchairs or caused delays in returning them to their users. The agency also called for better training for airline staff who assist disabled passengers or handle their wheelchairs.
These new proposals build on earlier efforts, like a bill of rights for airline passengers with disabilities.
In its statement Wednesday, the Transportation Department also emphasized that inadequate assistance and incorrect handling of mobility devices was a problem across airlines, not just at American. Last year, according to agency data, U.S. airlines mishandled more than 11,500 wheelchairs and scooters.
“Allegations of wheelchair mishandling and inadequate wheelchair assistance are far too common,” the agency said, adding that it is actively investigating similar violations at other domestic airlines.
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