Order 2011-4-2

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Issued by the Department of Transportation

On the 5th day of April, 2011

AirTran Airways, Inc. Docket OST 2011-0003

Served April 5, 2011

Violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 

14 CFR 234.11

CONSENT ORDER

This consent order is the result of an investigation by the Office of the Assistant General 

Counsel for Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings (Enforcement Office) into the failure

of AirTran Airways, Inc. (AirTran) to post flight delay information on its website in 

violation of 14 CFR Part 234 and 49 U.S.C. § 41712, which prohibits unfair and 

deceptive practices. This order directs AirTran to cease and desist from future similar 

violations of Part 234 and section 41712, and assesses the carrier a compromise civil 

penalty of $30,000. 

Applicable Law

Section 234.11(b) of the Department’s regulation requires carriers reporting on time 

performance information, such as AirTran, to display flight delay data on its website for 

each domestic flight for which schedule information is available on its website, including 

code-share flights. More specifically, each reporting carrier must provide on its website 

the following information: (1) the percentage of arrivals that were on-time—i.e., within 

15 minutes of scheduled arrival time; (2) the percentage of arrivals that were more than 

30 minutes late; and, (3) the percentage of flight cancellations if 5 percent or more of the 

flight’s operations were canceled in the month covered. The information must be 

provided in the initial listing of flights or by showing all of the required information via a 

prominent hyperlink in close proximity to each flight on the page with the initial listing 
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of flights. Reporting carriers that do not disclose performance data on their website are 

not in compliance with section 234.11. Violations of section 234.11 constitute unfair and 

deceptive practices in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712. 

Facts and Conclusions

The Enforcement Office review of AirTran’s website and information provided by 

AirTran revealed that on-time performance data were not available to consumers visiting 

AirTran’s website for a short period, which is a significant violation of the Department’s 

on-time performance rule. The failure to display on-time performance data violates Part 

234 and constitutes an unfair and deceptive practice and unfair method of competition in 

violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712. 

 Mitigation

In mitigation, AirTran states that it takes its obligation to provide consumers with flight 

delay information seriously and is focused on full compliance with Part 234.11(b)’s 

requirements. AirTran points out that the Part 234.11(b) website information requirement 

is relatively new, having only become effective on April 29, 2010, and its data loading 

and display procedures put in place to implement the new requirement worked without 

incident until a server failed on December 16, 2010, causing the first incident. The 

carrier states that it repaired the server, and then the same equipment failed again, causing 

the January 18, 2011, incident. According to AirTran, the system alert program it 

installed after the December event immediately identified the January event and allowed 

the carrier to quickly fix the problem, after which it equipped multiple servers to accept 

the flight delay data and to be accessible by the website. AirTran states that, to ensure 

future compliance, it has implemented new monitoring and exception reporting 

procedures and has also put into place processes to detect immediately any errors in data 

load files during schedule changes and the addition of new flights. 

Decision

We view seriously AirTran’s failure to display flight performance information on its 

website as required by 234.11(b). Accordingly, after carefully considering all of the facts 

in this case, the Enforcement Office believes that enforcement action is warranted. 

By this order, the Department finds that AirTran failed to post on-time performance 

information on its website, as required. In order to avoid litigation, without admitting or 

denying any violation AirTran agrees to settle this matter with the Enforcement Office 

through the issuance of this order directing it to cease and desist from future violations of 

49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 14 CFR 234.11, and to the assessment of $30,000 in compromise 

of potential civil penalties otherwise due and payable pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 46301.

This compromise assessment is appropriate considering the nature and extent of the 

violations described herein and serves the public interest. It represents a strong deterrent 

against future noncompliance with the Department’s requirements to post flight delay 

data by AirTran as well as by other reporting air carriers. 
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This order is issued under the authority in 49 CFR 1.57a and 14 CFR 385.15.

ACCORDINGLY,

1. Based on the above information, we approve this settlement and the provisions of this 

order as being in the public interest;

2. We find that AirTran Airways, Inc., violated 14 CFR 234.11 by failing to display ontime performance information on its website as required;

3. We find that by engaging in the conduct described in ordering paragraph 2 above, 

AirTran Airways, Inc. has engaged in an unfair and deceptive trade practices and 

unfair methods of competition in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712;

4. We order AirTran Airways, Inc., and all other entities owned or controlled by, or 

under common ownership and control with AirTran Airways, Inc., their successors, 

affiliates, and assigns, to cease and desist from further similar violations of 14 CFR 

234.11 and 49 U.S.C. § 41712;

5. We assess AirTran Airways, Inc., $30,000 in compromise of civil penalties that might 

otherwise be assessed for the violations found in ordering paragraphs 2 and 3 above. 

Of this total assessed penalty, $15,000 shall be due and payable within thirty days of 

the issuance of this order. The remaining $15,000 shall be due and payable if AirTran 

Airways, Inc., violates this order’s cease and desist provision within one year 

following the date of issuance of this order or fails to comply with the payment 

provisions of this order, in which case the entire unpaid portion of the $30,000

assessed penalty shall become due and payable immediately; and 

6. We order AirTran Airways, Inc., to remit the payment in ordering paragraph 5, above,

by wire transfer through the Federal Reserve Communications System, commonly 

known as "Fed Wire," to the account of the U.S. Treasury in accordance with the

instructions contained in the attachment to this order. Failure to pay the penalty as 

ordered shall subject AirTran Airways, Inc., to the assessment of interest, penalty, 

and collection charges under the Debt Collection Act, and to possible additional 

enforcement action for failure to comply with this order.
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This order will become a final order of the Department 10 days after its service date 

unless a timely petition for review is filed or the Department takes review on its own 

motion.

BY:

ROSALIND A. KNAPP

Deputy General Counsel

(SEAL)

An electronic version of this document is available at 

www.regulations.gov