American Airlines fined $4.1 million for dozens of long tarmac delays that trapped passengers

give the money to the passengers

So the fine money goes to the FAA and not the people on the planes? Doesn't seem quite fair.

And how are all of us who sat for endless hours on the tarmac compensated?

$4.1 million is nothing to AAL. AAL corporate executives blow through that with perks and bonuses. Nothing will change until the FAA starts to fine them personally.

customer service,and that includes airline personnel from the ground to the cockpit,is defininely NOT what it used to be..that applies to ALL of the airlines,no just american..a whole lot of the "old folks" who used to work for the airlines,were offered early buyouts,ealy retirements or they were laid off with the covid pandemic and cut backs, and didnt come back,and the "new crop" of employees that replaced them after the pandemic "freeze" on flights and hiring,are definitley NOT as caring..as far as american egoes,it actually began with the merger as the us airways personnel at the time were not noted to hav the professional courteous attitude of aa employees..having been both an airline employee, as well as a passenger who has been stranded on the tarmac,i have a pretty good understandgin of both sides of this issue..no one wants to feel neglected or ignored or inconvenienced by an airline employee, or an atc or weather issue,and that is basically what this fine is supposed to message to the american airlines group..remember there are limited gates at airports to accommodate a lot of aircraft that have already pushed form the gate and must stop,or have landed and there are no gates available due to weather issues..people would then complain if they were allowed to deplane on the tarmac for all kinds of reasons..just saying..not a perfect setup or system for anyone..

You guys always get this wrong.....
It's not ATC at all, it's the Airlines that actually schedule 50+ take off in a 1 hour period because that particular hour is the most desirable hour(d) that the3 public wants to travel.
The bottom line is that a single (1) runway can only SAFELY handle 42 aircraft per hour in one direction.
So add in lousy weather/visibility/fog/rain/etc.....then that number goes down,
Simply put.....do the math !!!

So, let's just say a plane has been battling ATC delays(staffing issues)and ground stops(weather). Even tho it left the gate on time, it has been creeping along the line of planes waiting to take off, and is now #3 for departure but has been away from the gate 2 hours 30 minutes. As a passenger on board, do you 1) want the pilot to stay and hope to get airborne soon;even if it exceeds 3 hours, or 2) pull out of the line, taxi past 20 planes waiting to take off, and return to the gate, where the chance of the pilot timing out or the flight cancelling is likely? And if it cancels, then what? Anyone who has been traveling in the last 2 years has faced full flights, so your flight returns to the gate,cancels, and you cannot get out for another 2 days.
Or maybe you are on a flight and the airport you are planning to land at has had a severe thunderstorm over it that is not moving, so your pilot diverts to another airport 100 miles away to sit out the storm. What normally would be a 30 or 45 minute detour extends to 90 minutes because the storm is not moving.Oncw back in the flow to your original destination, there are no gates open since the storm delayed planes that were at gates and should have been long gone. So you land but cannot get to a gate, and another round of severe weather hits. What in reality do you expect, for the airport to have a special reserved gate just for your plane, or maybe you have such little care or concern for the people who work on the ramp, that you expect them to risk getting killed by a bolt of lightning just so you don't have to wait?

If the heat inside the jet is a life or death situation use the emergency exit.
I have seen this happen in Phoenix where the captain forgot to turn the air conditioning on.and I was sitting in the main cabin. People were passing out and it was getting hard to breathe. The temperature was nearing 110 and I told the FA that we needed to exit the hot box soon. I ran up to the cockpit in my pilot uniform on and chewed the captain out. He evacuated all the passengers off the jet.

Ultimately we are paying the fines and subjected to the delays.

Airlines and airport operators should consider scissor-lift buses, particularly at airports with high-volume hub operations, to get passengers and their carry-ons off and to the terminal. Adjust the bus height to match the aircraft door. This could deal with arriving flights unable to go to a gate, and departing flights stuck on the airport with timed-out crews.

There should be a virtual take-off queue. Dozens of planes in a physical line represent discomfort for passengers and fuel use and resulting pollution. Let the passengers wait in the terminal until 40 minutes plus taxi time (boarding and taxi) prior to a reasonably reliable take-off time. This would also protect against crews running out of hours and subsequent flight cancelations.

what a joke such a small number by comparison to the distress caused and lack of care about passengers. Pretty darn clear how much american airlines cares...... none or not much......

Wonderful headline, but a ridiculous premise. Customer service on most airlines is generally lousy but it's as if AA wanted to have planes idling on the "tarmac". Sure, let's waste fuel, have crews delayed, possibly missing connections and cancelling other flights, and have a plane full of unhappy passengers.
If you're #27 for takeoff, is sitting at the gate or deplaning passengers going to make you #1 once you push back? That's assuming there is an empty gate and you're not displacing an arrival and creating a gate hold.
Perhaps the FAA should fine themselves and their airports? Maybe they would then address the problems rather than passing the blame to airlines, and crews who would be really happier to roll out and do a turn and burn.

They make that in a day.

It is a spank tax. The US government gets the money, and we get sore butts. I am reasonably sure AA paid even more than that in wasted employee time.

It's ATC that won't let the airplanes take off, it's not like the airline wants to sit on the ground. ATC is understaffed and operates with antiquated technology, but it's the airline that gets blamed.

Tarmac is a material not a location. Just saying.
Most delays occur on taxiways, ramps and gates. To be delayed on 'the tarmac' it would have to be a very unique location...like a WWII airfield or training base. Sure, it's a catchy word but continually used incorrectly by media. (gripe over)
Don't even get me started on the media's use of 'decimated'...

Apologies to the other well thought, relevant commenters.

The cost of flying has gone down, in real dollars, over time. This leads to issues with a broader swath of the American public being able to afford to fly, possibly leading to a decline in civility among passengers. It also leads to lower cost margins for dealing with/eating various expenses. Generally speaking, as a cost-sensitive individual, I'm willing to put up with certain declines in service and comfort in order to have a lower cost of travel.

Different airlines have and will continue to make changes to their reputations. Word about fines hitting airlines will help that process along. In the end, I can make choices about who I fly with on the basis of cost, service, and reputation. I'm ok with that.

the fines are meaningless, they are just passed on to the consumers. The only answer is stop flying.

This action is really just about making it appear that Petey is not being so limp-wristed and actually doing something to crack down on the airlines on the public's behalf. It's the oldest strategy in the book - if you suck at your job, throw mud on other people until everyone gets distracted and forgets about you...

Unfortunately, the majority of the news media will use the shortest word they can possibly find to collectively describe something. In this case being every taxiway, ramp or gate at every airport.

Mayor Pete's DOT/FAA reaping the benefits!

That’s how our government operates 😢🤮