Following Senators' Urging, DOT Identifies, Takes Action against Airline Passenger Discrimination

Statement

Today, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) issued the following statement after the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced it had identified discriminatory practices by Kuwait Airlines. In May, the senators wrote to the DOT, citing instances of discrimination and urged the Department to investigate.

"We are pleased that the DOT has looked into and is taking action against the discriminatory practices of Kuwait Airways. As we wrote in May, it is troubling and unacceptable that airlines could be allowed to profit from serving U.S. customers and benefit from infrastructure paid for by U.S. taxpayers, while simultaneously infringing on the rights of passengers. DOT must enforce strong penalties to ensure Kuwait Airways immediately and permanently stops these unacceptable practices, as well as to deter other airlines from adopting similar discriminatory behavior."