![](media/image1.png){width="0.20833333333333334in"
height="0.15625in"}[DOT-OST-2007-0022-0005](http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/webcomponent/library/searchresultslist/wait.jsp)
![](media/image1.png){width="0.20833333333333334in"
height="0.15625in"}Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections

There has been a lot of debate lately about the rights of airline
passengers. As more and more people choose to use air transportation
airports and airspace are becoming more congested. This is leading to
longer delays on the ground and in the air. Some of these delays are
only a few minutes but others have been longer than six hours. To make
this situation easier for passengers to deal with many ideas have been
proposed to standardize the rights one has as a passenger. New York is
trying to adopt its own passenger's bill of rights right now. The DOT
has proposed several ideas that make sense.

Now assigning blame for these delays is not the issue at hand, rather
what can be done to make these inevitable situations easier to deal with
that is important. The first and most involved solution proposed is to
require contingency plans for lengthy tarmac delays and incorporate them
in their contracts of carriage. This plan will have to include the
maximum tarmac delay that the carrier will permit, the amount of time on
the tarmac that triggers the plan's terms, assurance of adequate food,
water, and lavatory facilities, and medical attention if needed while
the aircraft remains on the tarmac. Also assurance of sufficient
resources to implement the plan, and assurance that the plan has been
coordinated with airport authorities at medium and large hub airports
must be done.

This idea, like a lot of great ideas, looks good on paper but would not
be effective. The airline can set the contingency plan point at fifteen
hours if they like and include it in their contract of carriage.
Although the incident will be documented by the FAA if the delay is
longer than four hours the airline's plan can take effect whenever they
set it up to. Also most passengers do not read the contract of carriage
and will be poorly informed of what will happen in the event of a long
delay. It will take a long time to set up any sort of industry standard
and acquisition of the necessary resources to implement these plans
could be lengthy too. It will be costly to implement and enforce such a
broad range of requirements. I do agree that basic human needs such as
waste removal, water, and medical care need to be provided, but I think
this proposal could create as many problems as it solves.

The next proposed solution is to require carriers to respond to consumer
problems. This idea will better connect the flying public and their
needs with the airlines that service them. One possible problem I see is
the costs involved with creating a position at each airport to file the
complaints and sending out responses to every complaint. Another thing
to consider is that the airlines still have the power to decide how to
run their airline. They will now be aware of how the customer feels when
delayed, but it may not actually affect the frequency or length of
delays. It seems like a hoop to jump through while the delay situation
remains unchanged.

Declare the operation of flights that remain chronically delayed to be
an unfair and deceptive practice and an unfair method of competition is
one idea. Any flight that is more than fifteen minutes late more than
seventy percent of the time for a quarter would qualify as unfair or
deceptive and have to be fixed in the next quarter. I think that this is
unfair to airlines when you look at weather and congestion issues at
busier airports. A lot of variables involved with being on time are out
of the airlines control. A larger window for being considered late could
be a good way to balance the interests of the airlines with that of the
passengers. If the flights are consistently late by thirty-five minutes
or more than they would be considered deceptive and would have to change
for the better. This allows more time for weather and other issues that
stand in the way of punctuality.

The next couple of proposals involve making information available to the
public on the airlines' websites. They could be required to publish
their delay data and/or complaint data. They could also be required to
report their on-time performance of international flights. A lot of this
information is available today in the form of reviews. One can get a
pretty good idea of how timely and how good the service of an airline is
by looking for reviews that are posted on the internet. Mandating that
they post this information of their website just makes it slightly
easier to find. Do I think that making information easier to find will
coerce more people into looking for it and making consumer decisions
based on it? No. Most people, not all, but most choose between airlines
based on prices, the availability of a flight, and how it fits into
their schedule. Delays will not be affected by posting this information.

Another idea to try and protect passenger's rights is to require
carriers to audit their adherence to customer service plans. I think
this is a good way to bring some accountability to the carriers. This
creates problems with the audits though. Should they be conducted in
house or by a third party? What are the costs involved in both of these?
Without some figures to work with it is hard to tell if this option is
fair to both parties or is it just another large cost to be imposed on
the airlines. Another issue raised is how to deal with carriers that do
not have customer service plans. Is it fair to make customer service
plans mandatory and once it is how can you standardize the audits? This
option, if it can be done at a reasonable cost, seems like the best
proposal to me. It holds airlines accountable for their service and
allows passengers direct input into the system they are using.

All of these ideas seem sensible to some point. It is hard to strike an
appropriate balance between airlines' rights and passengers' rights. I
think there needs to be a standard flight cancellation point set. A
flight can be delayed up until the standard cut off and then that's it.
While delayed people should be entitled to waste removal, water, and
medical needs. If an airline is consistently late is should be labeled
deceptive and either penalized or remedied. There needs to be some
accountability on the airlines part for their customer service.
Passengers also need to realize that it is a busy system, and just like
rush hour there will be some waiting. If the past is any indicator
though, the costs to implement any of these proposals will eventually
get passed down to the consumers themselves. The question that needs to
be asked is how much is your time worth?