The Transportation Department has assessed a $50,000 civil penalty against US Airways for failing to disclose the on-time performance of it flights to DOT investigators who made test calls to the carrier in November 2006.
Of the total civil penalty, $30,000 is payable now. The remainder will be forgiven if the carrier refrains from further violations for one year.
The DOT said its investigators found that on "a number of test calls," reservations agents failed to provide the on-time data, in some cases indicating that they did not have it or were unfamiliar with it.
Under the DOT's rules, airlines must assign a single-digit value to each domestic flight, corresponding to its on-time performance. (A flight that arrives within 15 minutes of schedule 80% of the time, for example, rates an 8; a flight that is 60% on time rates a 6, and so on.)
These data are required to be available in GDS systems for travel agents and in internal res systems for airline personnel.
US Airways said it was unable to determine why its employees didn't have the data, but said it may have been connected with its merger with America West and the migration of the two carriers to a single res system. In any event, the airline said has instituted retraining and periodic testing to ensure future compliance.