TURKISH AIRLINES FINED $300,000 FOR IMPROPER HANDLING OF CONSUMER COMPLAINTS
August 4, 2014
On July 25, 2014, DOT’s Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings fined Turkish Airlines $300,000 for violating several of the Department’s consumer protection rules having to do with consumer complaints. Pursuant to DOT’s Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections (EAPP2) rulemaking, carriers must acknowledge receipt of written complaints regarding scheduled service within 30 days and provide a substantive written response to the complaint within 60 days of receipt of the complaint (14 C.F.R. 259.7).
Under 14 C.F.R. Part 382, which is DOT’s regulation for the non-discrimination of passengers with disabilities in air travel, carriers must meet similar requirements for each of the disability-related complaints that they receive. Specifically, 14 C.F.R. 382.155 requires carriers to provide a dispositive written response to each written disability-related complaint within 30 days of receipt of the complaint. An appropriate dispositive response must (1) specifically discuss the complaint at issue; (2) admit or deny whether the carrier believes that a violation of Part 382 occurred under the circumstances; (3) summarize the relevant facts that led to the carrier’s conclusion; and (4) advise the complainant of his or her right to refer the matter to the Department for an investigation.
The penalty was imposed because Turkish Airlines failed to provide timely responses to a “large” number of consumer complaints and several disability-related complaints that the Department’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division (ACPD) received directly from consumers and forwarded to the carrier. Turkish Airlines also failed to adequately assure the Department that it provided substantive responses to those complaints that it received directly from consumers, although Turkish Airlines did advise the department that all such complaints were acknowledged within 30 days.
This is the largest penalty ever imposed by DOT on a foreign carrier for failing to adequately respond to consumer complaints. Not only does this penalty set a precedent for future enforcement actions, but it also very likely signals a focus by the Enforcement office on complaint handling issues. Carriers would be well advised to audit their customer service departments to ensure that all consumer and disability-related complaints are being acknowledged and responded to in accordance with EAPP2 and Part 382.