Airline Pleaded Force Majeure; Must Avoid Complaints To Avoid Fine

Regional carrier Comair has settled a Department of Transportation investigation into customer complaints stemming from a December 2004 breakdown of its computer system, that stranded thousands of passengers far away from home for the holidays.

DOT was looking into complaints by at least four passengers, who said the airline engaged in "unfair and deceptive" business practices and told them their Christmas-week flights were cancelled due to bad weather... and not the computer problems.

Weather is considered an "act of God," meaning the airline isn't responsible for making amends to passengers; Comair is responsible for providing hotels and other accomodations for passengers stranded due to a computer snafu.

"By misleading consumers in this manner, Comair engaged in an unfair and deceptive practice," the DOT ruled, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

In the settlement agreement, reached last month, Comair does not admit to, or deny, the alleged violations. The airline may also avoid paying the  $75,000 fine, as long as no new complaints are filed over the next 14 months, and the carrier shows a willingness to provide additional service to any customers displaced over the next year.

"We’ve taken steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again," said Comair spokeswoman Kate Marx. She also pointed out the airline reserved approximately 2,000 hotel rooms during the week-long crisis, of which 1,800 were filled by displaced customers.

"We reimbursed out-of-pocket expenses for hundreds of passengers," she added.

As ANN reported, Comair grounded all of the airlines' 1,100 Christmas Day flights, leaving approximately 290,000 passengers to spend the holiday stuck in terminals from Salt Lake to Atlanta. The problem was blamed on the airline's computer system, used to track flight crew schedules, which crashed following a massive rescheduling due to winter storms.

Parent company Delta Air Lines estimated the Comair shutdown cost the company $20 million.

The DOT found that on December 25, an email memo was sent to Comair employees saying the "cancellations are the result of the severe weather." Comair argued the severe weather contributed to the computer glitch, which in turn led to force majeure event -- defined as a significant catastrophe, such as war or a labor strike, that exempts the carrier from responsibility.

The agency didn't buy that explanation, replying "we view seriously any carrier’s failure to honor commitments made to consumers."

The Enquirer reports the DOT fines airlines on a semi-regular basis, for infractions such as failure to provide wheelchair access and other practices. At least half of those fines are subsequently forgiven, however, if the carrier promises to be good for at least one year... and further credits are given if the airline takes additional measures to ward off future problems.

A DOT spokesman told the paper the practice of forgiving fines "provides an incentive for future compliance," adding repeat offenders are hit with the maximum penalties.

FMI: www.dot.gov, www.comair.com