USDOT waives American Airlines’ 2024 wheelchair fine, asks for PaxEx investments

The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) has waived American Airlines’ remaining payments of a $50 million fine it had issued under the previous administration, asserting that passenger experience improvements for passengers with reduced mobility would benefit the public more than the remaining $16.8 million payments that would have been made to the US Treasury.

In an order on December 9, 2025, the DOT said that it was waiving a part of a $50 million fine it had imposed on American Airlines in October 2024 for the carrier’s failures to “provide passengers with disabilities using wheelchairs adequate enplaning, deplaning, and connecting assistance, and finding that passengers reported that American mishandled thousands of passenger wheelchairs and scooters by damaging them or delaying their timely return.”

As part of the $50 million fine, the Department ordered the airline to pay $25 million to the US Treasury in three separate installments, while $25 million was credited for expenses associated with “investments in equipment to reduce incidents of wheelchair damage, including the purchase of additional wheelchair lifts at 24 or more airports, and the purchase of additional wheelchair movers at 43 or more airports, […] a systemwide wheelchair tagging system to reduce incidents of wheelchair delay, […] goodwill compensation paid to affected passengers between January 1, 2019 to October 23, 2024, […] and eployment of hub control center employees in 2024, 2025, and 2026, to coordinate wheelchair handling on a centralized, systemwide basis at large airports.”

Now, the DOT is waiving the remaining $16.8 million that American Airlines would have had to pay the US Treasury. In addition to crediting the carrier with $700,000, which it compensated to passengers since October 2024, it will mandate $16.1 million of investments into passenger experience improvements.

Specifically, the Department outlined that American Airlines will have to buy additional wheelchair movers, additional wheelchair lifts at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), Miami International Airport (MIA), and Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), and invest in mobile devices and software to track and record travellers’ wheelchairs throughout their journeys.

“The amended order specifies that American is required to complete [the] purchase of the wheelchair movers and lifts by December 2026 and implement the wheelchair tracking system by May 2027.”

However, the DOT warned that if the airline fails to provide supporting documentation that it had made the investments, “along with a sworn statement under penalty of perjury by one or more” of its employees, no later than December 31, 2026, with a final report due a year later, it will have to pay the $16.8 million to the US Treasury within 30 days.

The Department concluded that since the mandated investments cancel out the remaining penalty, amending the October 2024 was in the public interest.

When the DOT announced the penalty in October 2024, it said that American Airlines had committed “numerous serious violations of the laws protecting airline passengers with disabilities between 2019 and 2023.”

“DOT’s investigation into American Airlines uncovered cases of unsafe physical assistance that at times resulted in injuries and undignified treatment of wheelchair users, in addition to repeated failures to provide prompt wheelchair assistance,” with the carrier also mishandling thousands of wheelchairs, resulting in damage or late return to their users, the Department's statement read at the time.

In its own statement, the airline called the fine a ‘settlement,’ highlighting that since 2022, its investments had resulted in a more than 20% improvement in handling scooters and wheelchairs. In addition, its disability-related complaint rate was less than 0.1%, it launched an automated tag for mobility devices, and had delivered wheelchair movers to all of its hubs and gateways, investing in wheelchair lifts at more than 20 airports.

“Despite these improvements, there are instances where the service the airline provides is disrupted, untimely, or results in harm to the passenger or their equipment,” it admitted, adding that it takes passengers’ complaints and claims “seriously.”

“The vast majority of cases are resolved directly with the passenger, without a lawsuit or the passenger escalating the matter to the DOT for resolution.”

While one could play devil’s advocate to argue that the DOT has made the correct decision to waive American Airlines’ remaining $16.8 million fine payments, in September, the Department delayed the enforcement of the Biden-era DOT’s ‘Ensuring Safe Accommodations for Air Travelers With Disabilities Using Wheelchairs.’

Instead, it will draw up new rules, titled ‘Airline Obligations to Accommodate Air Travelers with Disabilities Using Wheelchairs,’ targeting four provisions: airlines’ liability, frequency of required refresher training for airline employees, pre-departure notifications to passengers with reduced mobility of their rights, and fare-difference compensation for passengers who booked another flight since their original itinerary would not have accomodated their wheelchair or scooter.

It had already delayed the enforcement of the ‘Ensuring Safe Accommodations for Air Travelers With Disabilities Using Wheelchairs’ rule in February, arguing that it needed more time “to ensure that it is consistent with the law, including the requirements of the 2024 FAA Act, and Administration policies, and to consider the issues raised by a lawsuit.”

Airlines for America (A4A) sued the DOT for the Biden-era wheelchair rules in February. The lobby group, of which American Airlines is a part, argued that the rule exceeded the DOT’s statutory authority and violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

Talk about goodwill to ensure passengers with reduced mobility have a dignified traveling experience, eh?

Trump’s DOT promises new wheelchair rules, delaying the enforcement of Biden-era consumer protections

The DOT said that the earliest it could publish its own rule was December 31, 2026.

The Engine CowlRytis Beresnevicius