United hit with record $1.1-mn fine for flight delay

United Continental Holdings Inc was fined $1.1 million by US regulators for stranding passengers inside planes at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, the largest penalty since rules took effect in 2010.

Thirteen United planes with 939 passengers on board were delayed on the ground for more than the three-hour limit during thunderstorms that disrupted the second-busiest US airport on July 13, 2012, the Department of Transportation said. At least two planes didn't have working restrooms, according to a consent order issued on Friday. "It is unacceptable for passengers to be stranded in planes on the tarmac for hours on end," Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in an e-mailed statement.

A $900,000 fine against AMR Corp.'s American Eagle in 2011, also for delays at O'Hare, had been the largest penalty for violating the tarmac rule.

United Continental, while agreeing to pay the fine, had "no viable options to deplane passengers without risking the safety of both the passengers and ground staff," Mary Ryan, a spokeswoman, said.

United didn't plan adequately for the situation, didn't use the plan it had, or contact airport officials and other carriers for assistance, the department said. No competitors at O'Hare violated the three-hour rule that day, it said. Some delays occurred after the airport had resumed operations, the DOT said. One flight by a partner airline flying as United Express was on the tarmac for more than two hours after the airport reopened for the final time.

Under US rules applying to both domestic and foreign-based carriers, airlines must return to a gate to give passengers a chance to get off planes that have been stranded on a tarmac longer than three hours.