DOT 75-13 DOT Fines United for Failing to Make Timely Refunds; Airline Also Filed Inaccurate and Late Reports The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today fined United Airlines $350,000 for failing to make prompt refunds to consumers. The Department also cited the airline for filing inaccurate reports of its mishandled baggage and oversales, and failing to file timely reports of incidents involving animals in flight. DOT did not assess a fine for these violations because United disclosed the reporting errors to DOT and took corrective action. “When passengers are owed a refund, they have the right to expect the airline to act promptly and give them their money back,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “We also expect airlines to file accurate and timely consumer reports so that passengers will have the information they need when choosing an airline.” Airlines are required to process refund requests within seven days of receipt of a complete request when the ticket is purchased by credit card. Refunds must be made within 20 days for tickets purchased by cash or check. United’s customer service commitment, posted on its website, pledged to comply with these standards. However, the Department’s Aviation Enforcement Office, during an on-site inspection at the airline’s headquarters, found that between March and May of 2012, United failed to process over 9,000 refund requests in a timely manner. In addition, United underreported the number of mishandled baggage reports it received from passengers between January and October 2011 and the number of passengers it bumped, both voluntarily and involuntarily, for each quarter of 2011 from flights on which it sold more tickets than the number of available seats. The underreporting made United’s ranking in these categories seem better than it actually was. Also, during 2012 and 2013, United failed to file timely reports for a few incidents involving the death, injury or loss of animals on its flights. Today’s consent order is available at www.regulations.gov, docket DOT-OST-2013-0004. ### You are subscribed to DOT News for Department of Transportation. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.
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DOT Fines United for Failing to Make Timely Refunds; Airline Also Filed Inaccurate and Late Reports
DOT Fines Ticket Agents for Code-Share Disclosure Violations
DOT 73-13 DOT Fines Ticket Agents for Code-Share Disclosure Violations The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today fined three ticket agents for violating the Department’s rules on disclosure of code-share flights. Today’s consent orders are part of an ongoing effort by DOT to ensure that ticket agents comply with the code-share disclosure rules. DOT issued a $100,000 fine against Liberty Travel and $40,000 fines against both STA Travel and AAA Mid-Atlantic, and all three companies were ordered to cease and desist from further violations. The amount of the fines was based on the specific circumstances of the individual cases. “When passengers buy an airline ticket, they have a right to know which airline will be operating their flight,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “We will continue to make sure that all companies selling air transportation are transparent with consumers and comply with our code-share disclosure rules.” Under code-sharing, an airline will sell seats on flights using its designator code but the flights are operated by a separate airline. DOT takes enforcement action when necessary against companies that sell air transportation based on consumer complaints and the Department’s own internal investigations. In this case, DOT’s Aviation Enforcement Office made telephone calls to a number of agents during January and February of 2013 and inquired about booking certain flights. During these calls, the reservations agents for all three companies failed to disclose that the flights were being operated under code-share arrangements. The agents identified only the name of the marketing airline and not the corporate name of the airline operating the flight or any other name under which the flight was marketed. This violated DOT rules requiring airlines and ticket agents to inform consumers if a flight is operated under a code-share arrangement, as well as disclose the corporate name of the transporting airline and any other name under which the flight is offered to the public. DOT has now issued four fines for code-sharing violations this year, following a $60,000 penalty on May 23 against ticket agent JTB USA. The consent orders are available at www.regulations.gov, docket DOT-OST-2013-0004. -end-
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BTS Releases June North American Freight Numbers
BTS 40-13 Wednesday, August 28, 2013 Contact: Dave Smallen Tel: 202-366-5568
BTS Releases June North American Freight Numbers Trucks Transported 60.7% of U.S.-NAFTA Trade in June 2013
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation today released June North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) freight numbers showing that trucks carried 60.7 percent of the $93.5 billion of freight moved in June 2013 between the United States and its NAFTA partners, Canada and Mexico. Trucks were followed by rail at 15.8 percent, vessels at 8.2 percent, pipelines at 6.5 percent and air at 3.9 percent.
BTS, a part of the Department’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that the surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 83.0 percent of the total NAFTA freight flows, $77.6 billion of the total of $93.5 billion carried by all modes, including air and vessel. The value of freight carried by the surface modes in June 2013 declined 1.0 percent from June 2012, compared to the 0.8 percent decrease for all modes. Freight value on all modes rose 56.7 percent from June 2009.
For freight flows with Canada, trucks carried 56.0 percent of the $52.7 billion of the freight, followed by rail at 16.8 percent, pipelines at 10.8 percent, vessel at 5.5 percent and air at 4.5 percent. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 83.7 percent of the total U.S.-Canada freight flows.
For freight flows with Mexico in June, trucks carried 66.8 percent of the $40.8 billion of the freight, followed by rail at 14.5 percent, vessel at 11.7 percent, air at 3.2 percent and pipeline at 0.9 percent. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 82.1 percent of the total U.S.-Mexico freight flows.
Beginning with January 2013, BTS monthly TransBorder press releases contain data for all modes of transportation. Press releases and the BTS website now define surface transportation modes as truck, rail and pipeline. Data on surface modes can be found in Figure 3 and in Tables 2, 3, 4 and 7. See North American TransBorder Freight Data on the BTS website for additional data for surface modes since 1995 and all modes since 2004.
Data in this press release are not adjusted for inflation, except for the monthly totals illustrated in Figure 2 for comparison. See BTS Transborder Data Release for summary tables, state rankings and additional data. See North American Transborder Freight Data on the BTS website for additional data for surface modes since 1995 and all modes since 2004.
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BTS Releases June Passenger Airline Employment Data
BTS 39-13 BTS Releases June Passenger Airline Employment Data; | |||||||||||||||||
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BTS Releases May 2013 U.S. Airline Traffic Data
BTS 38-13 BTS Releases May 2013 U.S. Airline Traffic Data; | |||||||||||||||||
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