January 8, 2011 - The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) assessed a civil penalty against Mesaba Aviation for violating 14 CFR Part 382 (Part 382) rules which protect air travelers with disabilities. The carrier was assessed a civil penalty of $125,000.  

Mesaba Airlines is an American regional airline based in Eagan, Minnesota. The airline operates under Mesaba Aviation, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corporation. Its flights are operated under the name Delta Connection for Delta Air Lines. 

?We expect airlines to respect the rights of passengers with disabilities, and we will continue to take enforcement action when they do not,? said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Under section 382.39 [now sections 382.91 to 382.105], carriers must provide passengers with disability-related assistance in enplaning and deplaning aircraft. This assistance includes, as needed, the provision of services and personnel and the use of wheelchairs, ramps, or mechanical lifts. Section 382.39(a)(3) [now section 382.103] prohibits carriers from leaving passengers who are not independently mobile unattended in a ground wheelchair, boarding wheelchair, or other device for more than 30 minutes.

Section 328.65 [now section 382.155] requires carriers to provide a dispositive written response to a written complaint alleging a violation of Part 382 within 30 days of its receipt. An appropriate dispositive response must specifically discuss the complaint at issue, state the carrier?s view of whether a violation occurred, and state that the complainant may refer the matter to the Department for an investigation.

In mitigation, Mesaba explains that the complaint files identified by the Department in this matter involved services provided to passengers ticketed on Northwest Airlines, Inc. (Northwest) and Delta Air Lines, Inc. (Delta). Mesaba further explained that during the relevant period, Mesaba was wholly-owned and controlled by those carriers, both of which exclusively handled passenger sales, reservation, customer care, and recordkeeping functions, and most terminal services, for passengers on Mesaba flights.

For example, Mesaba stated that Northwest and Delta's Customer Care Departments maintained primary responsibility for managing and providing dispositive responses to disability-related complaints when required by Part 382. Further, Mesaba stated that more than half of the complaint files at issue involved wheelchair services provided at Northwest/Delta hubs in Detroit, Memphis, and Minneapolis; at these three hubs, Northwest and Delta maintained exclusive control over the contractors that provided enplaning/deplaning/connecting wheelchair assistance to their passengers with disabilities.

Mesaba stateed that it relied exclusively on Northwest/Delta and their wheelchair service contractors to meet the regulatory responsibility for terminal wheelchair assistance that section 382.91 assigns to Mesaba when it delivers a disabled passenger requiring such assistance to one of those hubs.