Frontier Airlines Fined

A highly publicized case involving a quadriplegic passenger lands Frontier Airlines in trouble with DOT.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) hit Frontier Airlines with a $50,000 fine in April for violating rules protecting air travelers with disabilities. An investigation by the department found the airline didn’t provide the passenger proper information before his flight and didn’t give him enough help boarding the plane, despite having enough notice that he would need help.

The situation arose when John Morris was traveling from Dallas to Denver after a family wedding last summer. A snowboarding accident left Morris quadriplegic and unable to sit upright in an aircraft seat without support and restraint.

The pilot ordered the 25-year-old from Fort Collins, Colo., removed from the plane after flight attendants refused to let him use seat-belt extensions to keep himself upright. The flight crew offered no alternatives that would have allowed him to fly.

Frontier failed to provide Morris appropriate notice, in advance of the return portion of his round-trip transportation, that seatbelt extenders as restraint devices for his upper body are not allowed, even though the carrier had permitted him to use them in three prior flights, including his trip to Dallas. 

The department’s disability regulation requires airlines to provide passengers who notify them that they use a wheelchair for boarding, as this individual did, of any limit on the carriers’ ability to accommodate passengers with a disability, even if the passengers do not request the information.

Morris was allowed to use the seatbelt extenders on another flight back to Denver.

The airline says it has reviewed its training to identify areas that need improvement.

For more information, visit regulations.gov, docket DOT-OST-2012-0002.

 

To order the July 2012 PN, Click Here.
To Subscribe, Click Here.