American Airlines was fined $50 million for mistreating disabled passengers, the Department of Transportation announced Wednesday.
The agency said the fine stemmed from years of the airline failing to provide wheelchair assistance to some passengers and damaging thousands of wheelchairs belonging to others. The incidents occurred between 2019 and 2023.
An unspecified number of passengers were injured as a result, the department said.
The airline will be credited $25 million of the civil penalty for improvement investments and compensation already paid to affected passengers.
The investigation began after the Paralyzed Veterans of America organization filed multiple complaints against the airline.
Part of the investigation included video posted on social media which showed workers at Miami International Airport mishandling a wheelchair after throwing it down a baggage ramp where it crashed onto the tarmac.
“The era of tolerating poor treatment of airline passengers with disabilities is over,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “With this penalty, we are setting a new standard of accountability for airlines that violate the civil rights of passengers with disabilities. 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.”
Buttigieg added that similar investigations are underway involving other airlines but did not offer specifics about the number of cases or which airlines were under scrutiny.