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Two of the violations occurred at Newark Liberty International Airport and one at Lehigh Valley Airport.
An extensive investigation by the Department’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection (OACP) found that between December 2015 and February 2021, United allowed 20 domestic flights and five international flights at various airports throughout the United States to remain on the tarmac for a lengthy period of time without providing passengers an opportunity to deplane, the DOT said.
The delays affected a total of 3,218 passengers.
Under the DOT tarmac delay rule, airlines operating aircrafts with 30 or more passenger seats are prohibited from allowing their domestic flights to remain on the tarmac for more than three hours at US airports.
Their international flights are not allowed to remain on the tarmac for more than four hours at US airports without giving passengers an opportunity to leave the plane.
The rule prohibiting long tarmac delays for domestic flights took effect 2010 and was expanded to include international flights in 2011.
An exception exists for departure delays if the airline begins to return the aircraft to a suitable disembarkation point in order to deplane passengers by those times.
An exception to the time limit is also allowed for safety, security, or air traffic control-related reasons.
The rule also requires airlines to provide adequate food and water, ensure that lavatories are working and, if necessary, provide medical attention to passengers during long tarmac delays.
The violations at Newark and Lehigh Valley Airports include:
- NEWARK: International flight 1515 landed during a snow storm on Nov. 15, 2018, and the plane remained on the tarmac for 4 hours and 12 minutes, the DOT said.
- NEWARK: Domestic flight 2322 remained on the tarmac for 3 hours and 16 minutes while preparing to take off.
- LEHIGH: Domestic flight 664 was on the tarmac for 3 hours and 41 minutes on July 23, 2017, after diverting to Lehigh Valley from Philadelphia International Airport due to severe weather, the DOT said. While the airport offered the flight a common use gate, United did not have properly trained personnel to use the gate before the 3-hour time window was up, officials said.
An airline spokesman told NJ Advance Media that only 25 out of nearly 8 million flights violated runway delay statutes.
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