Hawaiian is 1 of 2 airlines fined for rules violations

The U.S. Department of Transportation has fined Hawaiian Airlines $125,000 for violating the agency’s airline consumer protection rules.

Allegiant Air was fined $250,000 for the same violations.

The DOT’s Aviation Enforcement Office, which made the announcement on Friday, found that Hawaiian failed to provide adequate responses to individuals with disabilities who filed written complaints about damage to their assistive devices and failed to properly categorize and report disability-related complaints. In addition, Hawaiian underpaid denied-boarding compensation to passengers who were involuntarily denied boarding.

“This audit highlighted a need to improve our processes regarding how we route and report complaints and how we resolved them,” Hawaiian spokeswoman Ann Botticelli said. “As a result of this audit and discussions with the Department of Transportation, we have changed our processes and improved our employee training.”

The DOT found that Allegiant failed to provide passengers who have disabilities with adequate and timely assistance in moving within airport terminals, and did not adequately respond to complaints filed by passengers with disabilities. In addition, Allegiant failed to provide timely responses to consumer complaints and failed to make prompt refunds to consumers.