[Travelandtourism] airline fined incomplete disability complaint reports

[cheryl echevarria]

I received this from another talk list I am on

DOT 93-10
Monday, May 10, 2010
Contact: Bill Mosley
Tel.: (202) 366-4570
DOT Fines Continental for Incomplete Disability Complaint Reports
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today assessed a civil penalty
against Continental Airlines for filing incomplete reports with the 
Department tabulating
complaints that passengers with disabilities registered with the carrier. 
Continental
was ordered to cease and desist from further violations and assessed a civil 
penalty
of $100,000.
"Protecting the rights of airline passengers with disabilities is one
of our highest priorities, and we will continue to take enforcement action 
when our
disability rules are violated,"
said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
DOT rules require airlines to record disability-related complaints,
categorize them by the type of disability and nature of the complaint, and 
submit
an annual report on these complaints to the Department. If a single piece of 
consumer
correspondence covers more than one issue, each issue must be counted as a 
separate
complaint.
During an on-site inspection at Continental'
s headquarters, the Department's Aviation Enforcement Office discovered that 
the
carrier had a policy of recording only the most significant issue in each 
disability
complaint, even though many of the complaints involved more than one 
disability-related
issue. Continental did so even though all carriers had been advised earlier 
that
each disability-related issue raised in complaint letters must be 
individually tabulated.
The consent order is available on the Internet at <
http://links.govdelivery.com:80/track? 
type=click&enid=bWFpbGluZ2lkPTgyMTMwMiZtZXNzYWdlaWQ9UFJELUJVTC04MjEzMDImZGF0YWJhc2VpZD0xMDAxJn 
NlcmlhbD0xMjE1NzcyODIwJmVtYWlsaWQ9amVsZWtlc0BzYy5yci5jb20mdXNlcmlkPWplbGVrZXNAc2MucnIuY29tJmV4dH 
JhPSYmJg==&&&100&&&http://www.regulations.gov/>www.regulations.gov
,
docket DOT-OST-2010-
0005. The Department's annual report on disability-related air travel 
complaints
may be found at <
http://links.govdelivery.com:80/track?type=click&enid=bWFpbGluZ2lkPTgyMTMwMiZtZXNzYWdlaWQ9UFJELUJVTC 
04MjEzMDImZGF0YWJhc2VpZD0xMDAxJnNlcmlhbD0xMjE1NzcyODIwJmVtYWlsaWQ9amVsZWtlc0BzYy5yci5jb20mdXNlcm 
lkPWplbGVrZXNAc2MucnIuY29tJmV4dHJhPSYmJg==&&&101&&&http://airconsumer.dot.gov/publications/gateway1. 
htm>http://airconsumer.dot.gov/publications/gateway1.htm
.
The report covering disability-related complaints in 2009 should be issued 
this summer.
Cheryl Echevarria
Independent Travel Consultant
C10-10646

http://Echevarriatravel.com
1-866-580-5574

http://blog.echevarriatravel.com
Reservations at echevarriatravel.com
Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel CST-1018299-10