US Airways, Inc. - 2009 Consent Orders (Order 2009-8-2 OST-2009-0001)
Order 2009-8-2
OST-2009-0001 - 2009 Consent Orders
US Airways, Inc.
Issued and Served 10-Aug-2009
Consent Order
This consent order concerns violations by US Airways, Inc., of the Department’s code-share disclosure rule, 14 CFR Part 257, and the statutory prohibition against unfair and deceptive practices, 49 U.S.C. § 41712. The order directs US Airways to cease and desist from future violations of Part 257 and section 41712 and assesses the carrier $70,000 in civil penalties.
An investigation by the Aviation Consumer Protection Division of the Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings revealed a significant lack of compliance by US Airways with section 257.5. In January and March 2009, Enforcement Office staff made a number of telephone calls to US Airways’ reservations line to determine if US Airways employees were advising consumers of the code-share status of US Airways flights operated by other carriers as required by section 257.5(b). The US Airways reservations agents answering those calls failed to disclose the code-share status of the flights in question during a substantial number of those calls.
In mitigation, US Airways states that it takes seriously its section 257.5(b) obligations, and continually trains its reservations agents to make all required code-share disclosures. US Airways further asserts that refunds and no-fee exchanges are available to any US Airways customer who elects not to take a flight because it is a code-share. US Airways states that it has implemented a “zero-tolerance” policy for code-share disclosures during monthly quality review call evaluations, with progressive discipline for agents failing to make required disclosures.
We view seriously the failure of US Airways, Inc., to disclose code-sharing arrangements as required by 14 CFR Part 257. Accordingly, after carefully considering all of the facts in this case, including those set forth above, the Enforcement Office believes that enforcement action is warranted. In order to avoid litigation, US Airways, Inc., agrees to the issuance of this order to cease and desist from future similar violations of Part 257 and 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and to the assessment of $70,000 in compromise of potential civil penalties otherwise assessable against it. We believe that this compromise assessment is appropriate in view of the nature and extent of the violations in question, serves the public interest, and provides a strong incentive to all airlines to comply with the Department’s code-share disclosure rule.
Source: AirlineInfo, http://airlineinfo.com
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