United Airlines fined $1.9 million for trapping passengers on planes heading to O'Hare, other airports

CHICAGO - United Airlines has been fined $1.9 million for keeping passengers trapped on planes on the tarmac longer than three hours, and many of the flights involved in the fine were heading to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

The fine from the Department of Transportation is being levied after 20 domestic flights and 5 international flights at various airports throughout the United States remained on the tarmac for more than three hours for the domestic flights and more than four hours for the international flights without providing passengers an opportunity to deplane.

The flights listed in the fine include many that happened during a winter storm in April 2019:

• April 14, 2019: United flight 4492, tarmac delay of 3 hours and 46 minutes after the flight diverted to Madison, Wisconsin, due to a winter storm impacting operations at O'Hare.
• April 14, 2019: United flight 5217, tarmac delay of 3 hours and 39 minutes after the flight diverted to Marison due to a winter storm impacting operations at O'Hare.
• April 14, 2019: United flight 4394, tarmac delay of 4 hours and 1 minute after the flight diverted to Madison due to a winter storm impacting operations at O'Hare.
• April 14, 2019: United flight 729, tarmac delay of 3 hours and 30 minutes after the flight diverted to Madison due to a winter storm impacting operations at O'Hare.
• April 14, 2019: United flight 682, tarmac delay of 3 hours and 23 minutes after the flight diverted to Madison due to a winter storm impacting operations at O'Hare.
• September 3, 2018, United flight 624, tarmac delay of 3 hours and 14 minutes after the flight diverted to St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL) due to severe weather at O'Hare. The Department of Transportation said that "United also did not appear to have sufficient resources at STL to handle the number of diversions on the ground at the same time."

United Airlines said in a response that it is "committed to full compliance" while noting that the flights in the order happened more over a five-year period and were only 25 out of 8 million United flights operated during that time.

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