If Congress acts this year, airline passengers may no longer have to scream: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more.”
Six consumer rights bills — one in the Senate and five in the House — recently were introduced to protect passengers from arbitrary airline practices and crummy treatment.
The Clinton administration also chimed in with proposals that would double an airline’s liability for lost luggage and for the involuntary bumping of passengers.
Passengers these days are ticked off by a lot of things — unexplained flight delays and cancellations, overbooked flights, bumping, mishandled baggage, fare inequities, diminished food service and the capper: a weather-related incident in Detroit where Northwest Airlines kept a plane full of passengers on the runway for eight hours.
“I think passengers have had it with being treated worse than cargo,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a co-sponsor with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) of the Senate bill, the Airline Passenger Fairness Act. “In my view, what happened is that after the airlines were deregulated in 1978, some took advantage of it and basically left decent service in the parking lot.” The bill notes that since 1978, the number of large airlines has shrunk to 10 from 30.
“The kind of proposals I’m making with Sen. McCain are of the common sense, plain vanilla nature to get information to consumers so they can make informed choices,” Wyden explained in a phone interview. “We are not mandating a constitutional right to a big bag of peanuts or a fluffy pillow.”
Defending the airlines, David Fuscus, spokesman for the Air Transport Association, a Washington-based airline trade group, said that airlines carried 611 million passengers last year, and while there may be problems, “you’ve got to put everything in context.” He added: “We don’t think there’s a widespread problem with service. We do tracking polls, and one done a month ago showed the industry’s favorable rating at 70 percent.’
Congressmen sponsoring legislation don’t see it that way. And the American Society of Travel Agents, which sides with Congress on this issue, doesn’t see it that way either.
“The rising tide of consumer dissatisfaction has led to a tidal wave of legislation addressing the abuses of power by the airline industry,” said Joe Galloway, ASTA’s president and CEO. “Congress is responding to an angry constituency.”
In testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee on March 11, ATA President Carol Hallett, opposing legislation, said that “airlines are reaffirming their committment to customer services” and that the McCain-Wyden bill “will result in higher fares.”
Among other things, the Wyden-McCain bill calls for airlines to:
– Inform a passenger whether the flight on which the passenger is ticketed is oversold.
– Permit a passenger holding a confirmed reserved space on a flight to use portions of that ticket for travel, thereby allowing back-to-back and hidden-city tickets. (In back-to-back tickets, a passenger buys two round-trip tickets and discards half of each to avoid buying one higher priced ticket that doesn’t require a Saturday night stay. In a hidden-city ticket, a passenger deplanes at a stopover city rather than the final destination to take advantage of a lower fare.)
– Deliver a passenger’s mishandled checked baggage within 24 hours after arrival of the flight on which the passenger traveled and on which the passenger checked the baggage.
– Provide a consumer full access to all fares for that air carrier, regardless of the technology the consumer uses to access the fares if such information is requested by that consumer. (That would include special fares that airlines offer only through their own Web sites on the Internet. Most consumers use phones to make reservations either through a travel agent or directly from the airline.)
– Notify each passenger as quickly as possible about flight delays no matter what the reason (other than reasons of national security).
– Inform passengers accurately and truthfully of the reason for the cancellation or diversion of a flight to another city.
– Refund the full purchase price of an unused ticket if the passenger requests a refund within 48 hours after the ticket is purchased.
– Disclose to consumers information that would enable them to make informed decisions about the comparative value of frequent-flier programs among airlines, including the number of seats redeemable on each flight and the percentage of successful and failed redemptions on each airline and on each flight.
“The flying public is with us,” Wyden said. “I’ve been on a couple of flights since the bill was introduced and it’s sort of been like a town meeting on board. People are really, really unhappy. There’s a feeling that the aviation system in this country is world class, but the service is second class.”
Passengers, said Wyden, see stories about soaring airline profits and wonder why they can’t get decent service.
The Clinton administration proposed doubling the airlines’ maximum liability for a lost bag to $2,500 from the current $1,250 and the payment for involuntarily bumping a passenger to $800 from $400.
Among other things proposed in the “bill of rights” and “consumer access to information” legislation:
– The prohibition of false and misleading explanations for delays, cancellations and diversions.
– Penalties for delays of more than two but less than three hours, and stiffer penalties for delays of three hours or more except for those caused by air traffic control directives.
– Provision of necessary services, including food, water, restroom facilities and emergency medical services for all passengers. Some of the bills’ provisions echo ASTA’s air traveler’s bill of rights. ASTA, among other things, advocates truth in advertised prices, schedules and seat availability; a comfortable seat, adequate carry-on space and healthful meals; timely, courteous service in making connections, and access to courts and state consumer laws to resolve complaints.
How all the proposed legislation shakes out is subject to speculation since congressional hearings on the bills have just begun before subcommittees of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Meanwhile, passengers who have gripes about the treatment they receive from a carrier should air them.
Tom Parsons, editor and publisher of Bestfares.com magazine, a tough consumer advocate, suggests these rules of effective complaining:
– Take the time to submit your complaint in writing.
– Stay focused on one issue. You may have several justifiable complaints, but keep in mind that your e-mail or letter may be forwarded to a person in charge of a particular area.
– Be direct and as forceful as you like, but don’t rant and rave. Establish yourself as a person with a reasonable complaint.
– When communicating directly with an airline, explain your importance to them (such as a high-level frequent flier).
– Include all necessary contact information, including a daytime telephone number and a complete mailing address.
“I think we’re going to get a (passenger rights) bill passed in this session,” Wyden said. “I think there is so much unhappiness about these issues that it’s going to be very hard for a member of Congress to stand up at a town hall meeting and say he or she is opposed to this.”
Wyden said aviation groups are saying this bill is horrendous, but “my response is this is the kind of basic consumer protection that your local movie house, your neighborhood grocery store has got to go along with. If the airlines fight these kind of straightforward consumer protection measures to get people information, what they’re more likely to get down the road is some reregulation, bills the airlines will really be up in arms about.”
Concluded Wyden: “This bill is going to lift the fog.”
———-
Alfred Borcover’s e-mail address is aborcover@aol.com.
