New reports now show that the United States government, on Tuesday, imposed the first ever punishment against airlines for stranding people on an aircraft. The reports go on to show that airlines were fined $175,000 for a six hour ordeal in Minnesota. According to reports from the Transportation Department, Continental Airlines and its ExpressJet Airlines affiliate were fined $100,000. Two other airlines, Mesaba Airlines and Delta Air Lines were fined $75,000.

These new fines serve as a very sharp reminder to carriers to watch their customer service just as the very busy Thanksgiving travel period gets underway. This was a note from the government that pretty much said that they are not going to stand for it this year. Passengers will be treated with the respect that they need or airlines will be forced to pay for it.

Apparently regulators found that all four of these airlines violated a law prohibiting unfair and deceptive practices for their roles in the August 8^th incident. It was pointed out that some 47 passengers were stranded overnight aboard a Continental Express plan en route from Houston to Minneapolis that diverted to Rochester due to bad weather.

At the time, Mesaba was the only airline staffing the Rochester airport when the ExpressJet flight was diverted. Mesaba refused to let passengers exit the plane and enter the terminal, because there was no federal security personnel on duty at the time. Government officials went on to say that passengers could have entered the terminal as long as they remained in a secure area.