Continental: Threaten us with fines and we’ll cancel flights

The Transportation Department next month will begin having the option of fining airlines any time a flight departs more than 3 hours late. An indignant Continental Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek says his company will cancel flights altogether rather than risk such fines…

…DALLAS Continental Airlines plans to cancel flights rather than risk stiff fines under new federal rules designed to punish carriers for delaying passengers.
CEO Jeff Smisek said Tuesday the result will be that passengers will have more trouble getting to their destinations.
A spokesman for the U.S. Transportation Department said airlines can avoid fines by doing a better job of scheduling flights and crews.
Under a Transportation Department rule taking effect next month, airlines can be fined up to $27,500 per passenger if planes are delayed three hours and passengers can’t get off.
Smisek said at an investor conference in New York that long delays are rare, and mostly caused by an outdated air traffic control system that the government has failed to upgrade.
Airline industry officials say they should decide whether to wait out delays, even if the delays go past three hours.
Smisek said many passengers on delayed flights “really want to go to LA or Mumbai, but the government by God says, ‘We’re going…

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Continental: Threaten us with fines and we’ll cancel flights

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