DOT Dishes ‘Stuck on Tarmac’ Fine

All that time with your seat in the upright position. The Department of Transportation has fined American Eagle Airlines $900,000 for keeping hundreds of passengers stuck on the runway for hours. The government set a three-hour limit for tarmac delays on domestic flights in April 2010, and this May American Eagle made 608 passengers on 15 flights wait longer than that at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. It’s the first time the penalty has been enforced. Part of the fine—$250,000 of it—can be used to compensate the passengers.