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38–920 PDF 2007

AIRLINE AND AIRPORT

HOLIDAY TRAVEL PREPARATIONS

(110–88)

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON 

AVIATION

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON 

TRANSPORTATION AND 

INFRASTRUCTURE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

NOVEMBER 15, 2007

Printed for the use of the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

(

COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE 

JAMES L. OBERSTAR, Minnesota, Chairman 

NICK J. RAHALL, II, West Virginia, Vice 

Chair 

PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon 

JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois 

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of 

Columbia 

JERROLD NADLER, New York 

CORRINE BROWN, Florida 

BOB FILNER, California 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas 

GENE TAYLOR, Mississippi 

ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland 

ELLEN O. TAUSCHER, California 

LEONARD L. BOSWELL, Iowa 

TIM HOLDEN, Pennsylvania 

BRIAN BAIRD, Washington 

RICK LARSEN, Washington 

MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts 

JULIA CARSON, Indiana 

TIMOTHY H. BISHOP, New York 

MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri 

JOHN T. SALAZAR, Colorado 

GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California 

DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois 

DORIS O. MATSUI, California 

NICK LAMPSON, Texas 

ZACHARY T. SPACE, Ohio 

MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii 

BRUCE L. BRALEY, Iowa 

JASON ALTMIRE, Pennsylvania 

TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota 

HEATH SHULER, North Carolina 

MICHAEL A. ACURI, New York 

HARRY E. MITCHELL, Arizona 

CHRISTOPHER P. CARNEY, Pennsylvania 

JOHN J. HALL, New York 

STEVE KAGEN, Wisconsin 

STEVE COHEN, Tennessee 

JERRY MCNERNEY, California 

LAURA A. RICHARDSON, California 

JOHN L. MICA, Florida 

DON YOUNG, Alaska 

THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin 

HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina 

JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee 

WAYNE T. GILCHREST, Maryland 

VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan 

STEVEN C. LATOURETTE, Ohio 

RICHARD H. BAKER, Louisiana 

FRANK A. LOBIONDO, New Jersey 

JERRY MORAN, Kansas 

GARY G. MILLER, California 

ROBIN HAYES, North Carolina 

HENRY E. BROWN, JR., South Carolina 

TIMOTHY V. JOHNSON, Illinois 

TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania 

SAM GRAVES, Missouri 

BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia 

JIM GERLACH, Pennsylvania 

MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida 

CHARLES W. DENT, Pennsylvania 

TED POE, Texas 

DAVID G. REICHERT, Washington 

CONNIE MACK, Florida 

JOHN R. ‘RANDY’ KUHL, JR., New York 

LYNN A WESTMORELAND, Georgia 

CHARLES W. BOUSTANY, JR., Louisiana 

JEAN SCHMIDT, Ohio 

CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan 

THELMA D. DRAKE, Virginia 

MARY FALLIN, Oklahoma 

VERN BUCHANAN, Florida 

(II)

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION

JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois, Chairman 

BOB FILNER, California 

LEONARD L. BOSWELL, Iowa 

RICK LARSEN, Washington 

RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri 

JOHN T. SALAZAR, Colorado 

DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois 

NICK LAMPSON, Texas 

ZACHARY T. SPACE, Ohio 

BRUCE L. BRALEY, Iowa 

HARRY E. MITCHELL, Arizona 

JOHN J. HALL, New York, Vice Chair 

STEVE KAGEN, Wisconsin 

STEVE COHEN, Tennessee 

NICK J. RAHALL, II, West Virginia 

PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon 

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of 

Columbia 

CORRINE BROWN, Florida 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas 

ELLEN O. TAUSCHER, California 

TIM HOLDEN, Pennsylvania 

MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts 

DORIS O. MATSUI, California 

MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii 

LAURA A. RICHARDSON, California 

JAMES L. OBERSTAR, Minnesota 

(Ex Officio) 

THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin 

HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina 

JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee 

VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan 

STEVEN C. LATOURETTE, Ohio 

FRANK A. LOBIONDO, New Jersey 

JERRY MORAN, Kansas 

ROBIN HAYES, North Carolina 

SAM GRAVES, Missouri 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia 

JIM GERLACH, Pennsylvania 

MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida 

CHARLES W. DENT, Pennsylvania 

TED POE, Texas 

DAVID G. REICHERT, Washington 

CONNIE MACK, Florida 

JOHN R. ‘RANDY’ KUHL, JR., New York 

LYNN A WESTMORELAND, Georgia 

MARY FALLIN, Oklahoma 

VERN BUCHANAN, Florida 

JOHN L. MICA, Florida 

(Ex Officio) 

(III)

(V)

CONTENTS Page

Summary of Subject Matter .................................................................................... vi 

TESTIMONY 

Anderson, Richard, Chief Executive Officer, Delta Air Lines .............................. 7

Barger, David, President and Chief Executive Officer, JetBlue Airways Corporation ................................................................................................................. 7

Bart, Krys T., President and Chief Executive Officer, Reno-Tahoe International Airport, Chair, American Association of Airport Executives ............. 7

Faberman, Edward P., Executive Director, Air Carrier Association of America .......................................................................................................................... 7

Principato, Gregory, President, Airports Council International-North America 7

PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS 

Carnahan, Hon. Russ, of Missouri ......................................................................... 38

Cohen, Hon. Steve, of Tennessee ............................................................................ 39

Costello, Hon. Jerry F., of Illinois .......................................................................... 40

Mitchell, Hon. Harry E., of Arizona ....................................................................... 45

Petri, Hon. Thomas E., of Wisconsin ..................................................................... 54

PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED BY WITNESSES 

Anderson, Richard ................................................................................................... 65

Barger, David ........................................................................................................... 95

Bart, Krys T. ............................................................................................................ 105

Faberman, Edward P. ............................................................................................. 116

Principato, Greg ....................................................................................................... 123

SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD 

Petri, Hon. Thomas E., a Representative in Congress from the State of Wisconsin, a letter from the New York and New Jersey delegations to Secretary 

of Transportation Mary Peters, at the request of Rep. Kuhl ........................... 61

vi


38920.001
vii


38920.002
viii


38920.003
ix


38920.004
x


38920.005
xi


38920.006
(1)

AIRLINE AND AIRPORT HOLIDAY TRAVEL 

PREPARATIONS 

Thursday, November 15, 2007

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION, 

Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:00 a.m., in Room 

2167, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Jerry F. Costello 

[Chairman of the Subcommittee] Presiding. 

Mr. COSTELLO. The Subcommittee will come to order. 

As Chair of the Subcommittee, I will ask all Members, staff and 

everyone in the room to turn off electronic devices or to put them 

on vibrate. 

The Subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on airline 

and airport holiday preparations. I will give an opening statement 

and will then recognize our Ranking Member. 

Mr. Petri is over in the Education and Labor Committee. He was 

with us earlier. He will join us a little bit later on, but until he 

arrives, Mr. Coble from North Carolina will be the Ranking Member for this hearing. 

I want to welcome everyone this morning to our Subcommittee 

hearing on airline and airport holiday travel preparations. This 

hearing is the third in a series of hearings on airline consumer protection. 

The Air Transport Association forecasts that 27.3 million passengers will be boarding planes during the 12-day holiday travel 

period that starts on November 16 and ends on November 27, a 4 

percent increase from last year. An average of 2.3 million passengers will travel each day with about a 90 percent aircraft load 

factor. 

This increase in traffic comes at a time when airlines and their 

consumers have been experiencing the worst on-time delays 

through August. More than one in every four flights were delayed. 

Long onboard-Tarmac delays have increased by almost 49 percent 

from 2006, and delays of 5 hours or more have increased by 200 

percent. 

The nonweather-related delays and the increasing number of 

consumer complaints that passengers filed this summer are unacceptable. We are holding this hearing today in an effort to inform 

the traveling public about what the airlines and the airports are 

planning to do to ensure that consumers do not experience lengthy 

delays during this busy holiday travel season. 

2

While the FAA and the DOT have had numerous closed-door 

meetings on ways to reduce congestion and delays, Secretary Peters declined to come to this hearing today to tell the traveling public what this administration is doing to ensure a safe and an efficient holiday travel season. It is very unfortunate that the administration would not allow the Secretary to be here today to talk to 

the traveling public, to tell the public what this administration and 

the FAA is doing in conjunction with the airlines and the airports 

to, in fact, address what may be a very busy holiday season. 

I am pleased, though, that two airline chief executive officers, 

both Richard Anderson from Delta Air Lines and David Barger 

from JetBlue Airways, are here to discuss how their respective carriers are preparing for the holiday travel season and what consumers can expect. 

I am also interested in hearing more about what our airports are 

doing to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers while they are 

in the terminals. One of the lessons learned from both the American Airlines and JetBlue incidents last winter was that airlines 

and airports need to work together to get passengers on and off the 

aircraft as quickly as possible to reduce lengthy Tarmac strandings. 

The traveling public saw firsthand this year the serious problem 

our current system has with congestion and delays, which affect 

passengers and the quality of service. In H.R. 2881, the FAA Reauthorization Act that passed the House of Representatives, we addressed many of these issues to better protect consumers and to reduce congestion and delays. It was my hope that we would have 

the FAA Reauthorization Bill that passed the House of Representatives earlier this year enacted into law and signed by the President 

by now, but unfortunately, the other body, the U.S. Senate, has yet 

to act on its version of the FAA Reauthorization Bill. 

The airlines, airports and the Federal Government must work together to make certain that consumers get to their destinations 

safely and efficiently during this busy holiday season. 

With that, I would like to, again, welcome all of our witnesses. 

Before I recognize Mr. Coble for his comments, I would ask unanimous consent to allow 2 weeks for all Members to revise and to 

extend their remarks and to permit the submission of additional 

statements and materials by Members and witnesses. 

Without objection, so ordered. 

At this time, the Chair would recognize the gentleman from 

North Carolina, Mr. Coble. 

Mr. COBLE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If it pleases the Chair, 

Mr. Mica has another place to go. If he could go now, I could follow 

him, if that is okay with you. 

Mr. COSTELLO. The Chair would be happy to recognize the Ranking Member of the Full Committee and the former Chairman of 

this Subcommittee, my friend, Mr. Mica from Florida. 

Mr. MICA. I would like to thank you for yielding to me. I appreciate your leadership and also for your convening this hearing. 

I also see Mr. DeFazio, who did a great job on the Aviation Subcommittee as the Ranking Member. We have been working together for many years, trying to improve passenger service and 

also security for the flying public. 

3

Today is sort of a bad news day for the flying public. They are 

going to get some grim predictions, probably, of the situation we 

face with the crowded and congested airways and airports. Across 

the hall, I am leaving in just a minute to participate in a Government Reform investigative hearing on the failure of TSA’s screening of passengers. So it is not a very good news day. 

Secretary Peters is not here, and it is my understanding that the 

administration will announce shortly some measures to deal with 

holiday traffic and also to deal with consumers who are sort of left 

in the lurch by the congestion that they are facing. Several of these 

improvements are overdue. 

One is going to be, as I understand it, a requirement for some 

increased compensation for passengers who are inconvenienced or 

delayed at the responsibility of the airline, and I think that that 

is important. Airlines have to step up to the plate to deal with consumers who have been abused. It has been sort of a one-way street, 

unfortunately, to date, where the passenger is sort of left in the 

lurch and is not compensated, and then when something goes 

wrong, the passenger is inconvenienced or loses time and money. 

So I think that is a positive step. 

I think, also, some news will be forthcoming on improvements in 

air traffic control capability. We do have needs of placing additional 

air traffic controllers and also in dealing with the traffic. I am 

pleased the administration has also been meeting with the airlines—we will hear about that in a few minutes—on issues of congestion at some of the choke points, particularly the Northeast airports and JFK in particular. We had previous hearings on that. So 

I think that they are making some progress and are talking. 

Even with the next generation air traffic control, which at the 

very best estimates is some—I would say, if everything went right 

and if Congress appropriated all of the money, getting the nextgeneration air traffic control system in place is at least 15 years 

off. However, we have moved forward with the first of the ground 

stations. The contract has allowed for that. So there is some good 

news, but there is some very bad news for folks who think there 

is going to be a quick cure to the congestion. 

The other thing that I wanted to mention again is that there is 

no silver bullet to deal with this. The system is straining; it will 

continue to strain. We are going to have to have mechanisms for 

the private sector. Hopefully, Government will not try to be a regulator in what should be a market-driven situation. But we can do 

a better job as the regulators in, again, protecting consumer interests and in trying to get our airways opened up just like we have 

opened up our highways and in making certain that we have the 

air traffic controller staffing that we need. 

Finally—this is more of the bad news. We are going to discuss 

this. I am going across the hall. Mr. Waxman and I usually do not 

agree on a lot, but I am so pleased that Mr. Waxman is looking 

into the failure of the Transportation Security Administration to 

find bombs, weapons and explosive materials that pose a great danger to us. Congestion may be bad, but to have planes blown out of 

the sky would be absolutely horrible. The failure of TSA to take 

measures to improve and also to relay to the public the situation 

we are in right now I think is unconscionable. 

4

I am hopeful that we can get in place additional measures. We 

have 19 layers of security. I think that what Mr. Waxman is doing 

in revealing some things, not just this story of the failure by TSA 

inspectors but by the GAO inspectors that—incidentally, Mr. 

Costello, when we sort of passed this over, I don’t know if you recall that meeting, and I don’t know if you were there, but they sort 

of pooh-poohed the tests, and the tests had been validated by the 

GAO, that they could, in fact, take down aircraft. And we do believe that this is the next step the terrorists are looking at. So we 

have to get these improvements in place. 

The final of the 19 elements of protection in a layered security 

system is the flying public. And the public needs to be alert that 

the system faces potential danger, and they may be our last line 

of defense in this. In fact, our congested planes and full planes may 

be some of our best protection with a knowledgeable public to know 

that people may want to do us harm, and so they will be on the 

lookout for those dangers. 

So a lot of bad news. There is, hopefully, a little good news with 

the great public as our final line of defense. 

I yield back. 

Mr. COSTELLO. I thank the gentleman. It is a very serious problem, and we are pleased that Mr. Waxman’s Committee is looking 

into the matter. 

Back to the topic at hand, though, which is airline and airport 

holiday travel preparations. Let me recognize at this time the gentleman from Oregon, Mr. DeFazio, for any comments that he may 

have. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will divert from the 

agenda just for a moment to respond to the Ranking Member. 

We have been holding ongoing hearings in Homeland Security on 

this issue, and the gentleman is aware that we are running a system with 1970s technology. The screeners today—a lot of people 

are knocking the screeners. It is not the screeners. They are bettertrained; they are professional. The tests are much more sophisticated that they are being asked to use, but they are working with 

1970s technology. This administration and the previous Republican 

Congress refused to buy and, in fact, cut the budget for enhanced 

equipment and for more screeners. We are trying to rectify that. 

There is now millimeter wave technology. We need body-scanning. We need three-dimensional. We need the same kinds of machines at the airports that you put your luggage through or your 

baggage through as you walked in here today into the office building and when you go downtown to any building. But we do not 

have those in the airports because the administration has refused 

to buy them. So it is a shame, both for security issues and for customer service issues, that the administration is not here today. 

That is a key part of answering this problem. 

Yes, we can have a market-based approach, and we can make a 

lot of improvements there. Consumers are not getting a lot of 

meaningful information. If you take a scheduled flight at a time 

that is very convenient for you, it just happens that a lot of other 

people feel it is convenient. And many airports are scheduling more 

flights or airlines that can take off during a given hour, and customers do not know that. So, yes, you have a theoretical flight at 

5

9 o’clock in the morning, but 90 percent of the time it is not leaving 

at 9 o’clock in the morning. But it is hard to find that information 

in a meaningful way. 

So forget about a market-driven system. We need to have a much 

more transparent process for customers to understand better what 

their rights are and, you know, what contingencies relate to their 

flights. 

I would congratulate the Chairman on a number of measures 

which he put into the FAA Reauthorization, which is, unfortunately, languishing in the Senate. 

The other side of the equation is the ′′R′′ word. Now, I know this 

administration hates that, but there has to be a light touch of regulation in solving these problems. They have begun to convene some 

meetings, very belatedly, to talk about overscheduling and other 

issues, but you cannot run this system just with a market-based 

approach, particularly when consumers are deprived of meaningful 

information. 

I hope, today, we are going to hear some real steps forward by 

the airlines. We have several times approached this issue. We almost put in passenger rights in 2000. Then Bud Shuster negotiated 

the voluntary measures with the airlines, which, unfortunately, 

failed us pretty miserably in the last year and a half or so. And 

so we need to hear where we go from here, in addition to, obviously, getting the Chairman’s FAA bill passed through the Senate, 

so we can put some meaningful protections in place. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. COSTELLO. I thank the gentleman. 

The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina, 

Mr. Coble. 

Mr. COBLE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be brief. 

At a previous Aviation Subcommittee hearing, Mr. Chairman, I 

shared with the audience a conversation I had with a constituent 

some weeks ago. He said to me, ′′Heretofore, my least favorite place 

to be was in my dentist’s chair.′′ He said, ′′Now my least favorite 

place to be is at an airport.′′

I hope the testimony we hear today, Mr. Chairman, will make 

dental visits less appealing and root canals less appealing and airport visits less frustrating and less demanding. 

The constituent said to me, he said, ′′When I go to an airport, I 

know the chances of a cancellation or a delay are excellent.′′ And 

he was very frustrated, blaming me for it, just as he would probably blame you for it. So I hope that these problems will be assuaged as we hear from our witnesses today. 

And I thank the Chairman. 

Mr. COSTELLO. I thank the gentleman. 

The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. 

Duncan, for any comments that he may have. Then, after Mr. Duncan’s comments, we will recognize and go to the witnesses for their 

testimony. 

Mr. DUNCAN. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and 

thank you for calling this very important hearing and for trying to 

do all that you can to make sure that we hold these problems down 

to a bare minimum. 

6

I also agree with Mr. DeFazio. I appreciate some of the things 

that you have put into the FAA bill. There is just no excuse, for 

instance, for any airline to leave people on the runway for several 

hours like we have heard, but those are extremely rare instances. 

You know, I have mentioned before that I heard an NPR news 

report several years ago that said, in the Russian Aeroflot system, 

they sometimes had delays as long as 4 days. You know, people 

would come to the airport, and they would find out that their plane 

is not flying that day. And we get upset if there is a delay of 40 

minutes. I think that people are going to have to realize that a big, 

big percentage of these delays is caused by weather. 

Overall, I am going to say that I am amazed that the airlines do 

as good a job as they do. Could they do better? Yes. Everybody 

should always be trying to do more and to do better, and the airlines need to improve. But I am amazed that so many flights run 

on time, on schedule and that we have as good a service as we do. 

There are some things that we can do as Congress, and there are 

some things that they can do as airlines. I have always said that, 

unfortunately, you know, of people who fly all the time, as we do, 

as most of us do, if we have 98 or 99 good flights and one really 

bad one, the one that we always talk about is the one bad one. 

So I appreciate what the airlines do. I want to work with you, 

Mr. Chairman, and with the airlines to try to make a great system 

even better. Thank you very much. 

Mr. COSTELLO. I thank the gentleman from Tennessee. 

Let me say that the airlines are here this morning and the representative from the airports to tell us exactly what they are doing 

to prepare for the holiday travel. We anticipate unprecedented 

numbers of passengers traveling during this 12-day holiday period. 

We also anticipate, with load factors, that 90 percent of the seats 

on these airplanes will be full. 

We realize that there is nothing that anyone in this room can do 

about weather, but there is something that airports and airlines 

can do about informing passengers, about communicating with passengers when there are weather delays and nonweather delays. 

And that is the purpose of this hearing, is to tell us what they are 

doing in terms of having additional staff for the holiday season, additional equipment and things of that nature. 

Last, before I introduce our witnesses, I would ask both our airline executives and others who are in this room who are stakeholders—and all of us are, as passengers—to contact our friends in 

the other body, in the United States Senate, and tell them how important this reauthorization bill is and how important it is to move 

legislation that will provide adequate funding, as we have in the 

House bill, that will move the air traffic control modernization forward. Unfortunately, as we have said earlier, it is in the Senate 

and has very little hope of getting on the agenda to pass out of the 

Senate before the end of the year. But I would ask everyone to contact our friends in the Senate and to tell them how important it 

is. 

With that, let me recognize and introduce our witnesses. I will 

recognize each witness under the 5-minute rule. 

You should know that your entire statement will be entered into 

the record. We would ask you to summarize it in 5 minutes so that 

7

we can get to Members asking questions and enter into a discussion about various issues. 

The first witness will be Mr. Richard Anderson, who is the chief 

executive officer of Delta Air Lines; then Mr. David Barger, who is 

the president and chief executive officer of JetBlue Airways Corporation; Mr. Ed Faberman, who is the executive director of the Air 

Carrier Association of America; Ms. Krys Bart, who is the president and chief executive officer of the Reno-Tahoe International 

Airport and the chair of the American Association of Airport Executives; and Mr. Greg Principato, who is the president of the Airports 

Council International for North America. 

Mr. Anderson, you are recognized for 5 minutes, please. 

TESTIMONY OF MR. RICHARD ANDERSON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE 

OFFICER, DELTA AIR LINES; MR. DAVID BARGER, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, JETBLUE AIRWAYS 

CORPORATION; MR. EDWARD P. FABERMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AIR CARRIER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA; MS. KRYS 

T. BART, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, 

RENO-TAHOE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, CHAIR, AMERICAN 

ASSOCIATION OF AIRPORT EXECUTIVES; MR. GREGORY 

PRINCIPATO, PRESIDENT, AIRPORTS COUNCIL INTERNATIONAL-NORTH AMERICA

Mr. ANDERSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Members of the 

Committee. It is a privilege to be here today representing the 

50,000 professionals of Delta Air Lines and to share with you our 

plans for this holiday season to be certain that we continue to deliver consistent, reliable and good air transportation to our customers. We share the goals and objectives of the Committee. 

My testimony will also provide to you an update on ongoing discussions with the Department of Transportation and FAA concerning congestion and delays in New York. 

In order to meet the needs of the 1.8 million customers who will 

fly on Delta Air Lines during the Thanksgiving week, we have developed a comprehensive plan to deliver safe, reliable and excellent 

customer service. We are fortunate to have great, great employees 

at Delta who are committed to serving customers every day. 

And I would note that Delta is the number-one on-time airline 

year-to-date in 2007 among the major network carriers, both in arrival performance and departure performance. So we intend on continuing that great level of service. 

Weather and air traffic control, obviously, have a significant influence on the execution of our plan, so a key component of our 

plan is preparing for uncontrollable contingencies—a lot of 

preplanning and close communication with our passengers. 

During each regular operating day, our Operations Control Center holds extensive planning sessions to pre-identify potential 

delays and congestion and selectively thinning or canceling flights 

and then rebooking affected passengers. As I am testifying today, 

our Operations Control Center is also leading holiday-specific discussions to continue to evaluate our crew staffing, equipment availability, aircraft positioning, parking coordination, cold weather 

8

plans, regional partner preparedness, and coordination with the air 

traffic control system. As the holiday season nears, our OCC will 

step up communications with each Delta station and will continue 

that dialogue on a daily or even on an hourly basis throughout the 

season. 

I would note that our preparation has a long and consistent 

record over the holidays. I went back and took a look at our performance in 2006. Delta Air Lines ran a 99.8 percent completion 

factor 1 year ago during the 10-day Thanksgiving travel period, 

with arrival within 14 on the domestic system of 87 percent. So we 

have a proven track record of being able to very effectively handle 

the large passenger loads while delivering industry-leading customer service. 

To ensure our equipment is in top condition and can be returned 

to service quickly during the holidays, our maintenance division is 

fully staffed through the holidays. And we have included 87 extra 

sections—that is extra sections in the schedule on highly traveled 

routes—to be certain that we have the capacity to accommodate 

your regular operations. 

Our Delta leaders across the system will not be on vacation. 

They will be in the airports and in our operating centers and in our 

maintenance centers, engaged and visible, assisting our capable 

frontline employees and our flight crews and our flight attendants 

in delivering high levels of customer service. We have a full complement of pilots and of flight attendants on reserve status. And we 

have taken steps to be certain that we have sufficient crews in the 

event of irregular operations. 

We have communicated information about our load factors to the 

TSA and to the FAA so that they can plan staff accordingly. This 

should help our customers avoid extended delays at security checkpoints or during Immigration and Customs inspections. 

As I mentioned before, we plan extensively to prepare for and to 

avoid extended ATC and weather-related delays. However, if they 

occur, we have also made extensive preparations to care for affected passengers. At airports like JFK, these include close coordination with the Port Authority to bring flights with extended 

ground delays to the gate. 

On that subject, we have endorsed the DOT Inspector General’s 

recently released recommendations to improve customer experience 

in the face of extended delays. We place a very high priority on ensuring our customers have the best experience possible on our 

flights, and we felt it very important to be the first airline to endorse the Inspector General’s recommendations. 

Let me move very quickly to our commitment to Congress, to 

DOT and FAA to work with all constituencies in solving the congestion issues in our air traffic control system and particularly in 

New York. We have worked hard through the ARC process to find 

acceptable answers to congestion and delays in the New York City 

airspace and particularly at JFK. JFK has been a very important 

part of the recovery of Delta Air Lines, and it is the linchpin of our 

strategy of expanding international service. We are committed to 

ensuring that this summer and all subsequent summers operate 

smoothly at JFK. And we believe that there are near-term fixes 

9

and long-term plans that can both be put in place to deliver the 

levels of customer service that our customers expect. 

As you have noted in the recent hearing on congestion and delay, 

we have already taken steps to reduce our peak flying at JFK and 

have fully cooperated with the coordination process that the FAA 

has put in place through the ARC process. We have made voluntary changes in our schedule to reduce completely turboprop flying at JFK. We have, essentially, gone to the largest shell size—

or the smallest shell size at JFK will be a 76-seater, so we have 

taken 50-seaters and propeller airplanes out of the market. 

But it is important that the industrywide solution that we reach 

at JFK is nondiscriminatory and respects the historic rights of carriers like Delta, JetBlue and American that have invested hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs over the last decades to build their networks at JFK. Delta, in fact, bought its network at JFK from Pan American World Airways for almost $800 

million 15 years ago. And we believe that those positions are important positions, and it is important for our employees, as we continue our recovery, to have that important strategic asset available 

so that we can continue to execute on our strategy. 

A number of improvements can be made to increase short-term 

capacity at JFK, which the FAA recently set at levels back equal 

to what they were in 1969. We need a New York airspace czar that 

should be appointed by the FAA to coordinate New York airspace 

management issues. This worked well in South Florida, where we 

had these issues a couple of years ago, and we saw a 40 percent 

decrease in delays. 

However, rather than just advancing these kinds of ideas, DOT 

has advanced a regulatory scheme for JFK that discriminates 

against U.S. airlines. We compete against 60 foreign-flag carriers 

at JFK, and only U.S. carriers—Mr. Barger, myself and American—have been asked to participate in schedule reduction. We 

think that it is only appropriate that if there are going to be schedule reductions, that foreign-flag carriers, who are our biggest competitors at Delta—because two-thirds of the capacity we have 

added at JFK to international markets are to international markets that no other U.S. carrier flies to nonstop. Our competition are 

foreign-flag carriers, and they cannot be given an advantage, and 

they cannot be given an advantage over our employees. It is just 

not fair. Forcing Delta and U.S. carriers to shrink their operations 

at JFK prevents us from being able to compete effectively. What we 

are doing at JFK is novel, and we should have the right to compete 

fairly. 

There is a clear, effective and nondiscriminatory way to manage 

demand and to reduce congestion at JFK, and it is the International Worldwide Scheduling Guidelines. They are in use in airports around the world. The issues we face at JFK have been experienced at airports around the world, and these rules are fair and 

nondiscriminatory. 

In closing, I give you our commitment and the commitment of all 

50,000 employees of Delta and their decades-long commitment to 

high levels of customer service that we will work fully with this 

Committee, with the DOT and with the FAA on reforming the air 

traffic control system, making the investments we need to make 

10

and doing what we need to do to make sure our air transportation 

system meets the growing demands for air travel. We are committed to finding a solution in New York. We have cooperated fully 

through the ARC process and will continue to do everything we can 

to play a constructive role in the schedule coordination activities 

that FAA is undertaking. 

That concludes my statement, Mr. Chairman. And on behalf of 

all of my colleagues at Delta and of many of my colleagues who 

were kind enough to take time to come here today, we thank you 

and give you our commitment that we will continue to do our very 

best to serve our customers worldwide. 

Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Anderson, thank you. When we get into the 

question part, we will be asking you specifically in terms of equipment and employees and how many more employees you have 

added for the holiday season and specific questions like that. 

At this time, the Chair now recognizes Mr. Barger. 

Mr. BARGER. Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and 

Members of the Subcommittee. I am honored to be here on behalf 

of the 11,000 JetBlue crew members to tell you about JetBlue’s 

readiness for this year’s holiday travel season. 

My comments this morning will really highlight the February 

event, being transparent, that we experienced; internal and external changes since that point in time preparing for the holidays; a 

comment regarding our home base of operations, JFK airport, and 

certainly our holiday preparedness plans. 

Given how we performed during last February’s holiday season, 

I am, candidly, not surprised to have been asked to be here today. 

That said, I am glad to have the opportunity to share all that we 

have accomplished over the past 9 months with you. 

Last February was a difficult time for JetBlue, as we let our customers down. In fact, to be candid, we failed them. As a result of 

that well-publicized disruption in our operations, we have instituted many changes to ensure we don’t ever repeat that performance. The irony of experiencing this failure as a customer-focused 

company is not lost on us. Our changes have been both internally 

and externally focused and, in both cases, dramatic and beneficial. 

With that, let me highlight internal changes that we have made 

at this time. 

Since David Neeleman was here last April testifying about our 

immediate recovery efforts, our founder relinquished his CEO position to focus on JetBlue’s long-term vision as chairman of the 

board. I assumed the role of CEO approximately 6 months ago, and 

my former position of president and chief operating officer has subsequently been filled by Mr. Russ Chew. I believe many Members 

are aware of Russ, who has been transforming the FAA’s air traffic 

organization for the past 3 years. Russ is now in place at JetBlue 

as president and chief operating officer. 

Russ, in turn, has rebuilt and has strengthened his entire organization at JetBlue from airport operations to dispatch to system operations to crew services and throughout the organization. In fact, 

in the short 6 months, Russ has added over 150 years of airline experience through the hiring of four industry executives to help with 

our SOC, or Systems Operations Center. 

11

All of our new leaders and their colleagues have undergone rigorous training in new protocols, procedures, processes, ranging 

from the de-icing of aircraft to the communications between aircraft to the communications with dispatchers and between system 

operations at airports, in other words, interface across our airline. 

With that, let me move on to highlight some external changes 

that we have made over the past several months. 

Last February, JetBlue issued an unprecedented customer bill of 

rights, which I am just holding up for you at this point in time, 

which superseded anything offered by our competitors or that was 

being proposed by lawmakers at that time. The provisions of our 

bill of rights, including its clearly displayed and defined terms and 

customer compensation levels, were incorporated into our Contract 

of Carriage, a legally binding document between JetBlue and, in 

fact, all airlines and customers. 

Further, all of the provisions of our bill of rights were posted on 

the front page of our Web site, not buried where you would have 

a hard time finding them. In other words, I would like the Committee to know that we have been very transparent, proactive and 

transparent, regarding our customer goodwill. Most importantly, 

all of the provisions were made retroactive to aid all of the customers impacted by our Valentine’s Day disruption. 

At this point, I would just like to comment regarding our home 

base of Kennedy Airport. JFK, though the center of an ongoing discussion about capacity and scheduling practices, is JetBlue’s home. 

It has been for 8 years. We have invested time, planning and resources to properly grow there. We are on budget and on time to 

open our new 26-gate, $875 million terminal complex built in collaboration with our partners, the Port Authority of New York and 

New Jersey. This facility is expected to open within 1 year, and it 

represents 5 years of a planning process. 

I would also be remiss if I did not mention our support for a fair 

and equitable long-term funding system that can properly finance 

the sorely needed modernization of our air traffic control system. 

JetBlue supports the system where all users of the system, private 

jets and airliners alike, pay fairly for the use of their system. 

The key to reducing congestion and delays at JFK and, indeed, 

throughout the entire New York region and Northeast airspace corridor, is a satellite-based, modernized system that safely maximizes 

every square inch of the sky. Mr. Chairman, your focus and this 

Committee’s work toward this goal is greatly appreciated, as we 

have had several meetings on this topic over the past several 

months. 

In closing and in support of our written testimony of holiday preparedness, as one of the Nation’s leading providers of low-fare travel, JetBlue has routinely had one of the highest load factors in the 

industry. Let us face it: People like low fares. Thus, while not every 

day is Thanksgiving or Christmas or a holiday for JetBlue, most 

of our days come quite close. With our new policies and procedures 

in place, with our tremendous investments in training and equipment—for example, doubling the number of de-ice pads at JFK 

from four to eight pads, our investment in 25 de-icing trucks for 

this year, as well as 150 new crew members dedicated to de-icing 

at JFK—and also expanding 600 new customer service crew memVerDate 0ct 09 2002 17:25 Feb 14, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\38920 HTRANS1 PsN: JASON
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bers in the airports across our airline, JetBlue is ready for the holidays. 

On behalf of our 11,000 crew members, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to testify today. 

Mr. COSTELLO. We thank you, Mr. Barger. 

The Chair now recognizes Mr. Faberman. 

Mr. FABERMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Members of the 

Committee. I am happy to be here today. 

My association represents a number of low-fare carriers. In some 

ways, the numbers of people traveling over the holidays are as a 

result of more options for travelers, lower fares, so that is a good 

sign. We are very dedicated to expanding and continuing to grow 

our operations. 

We thank you for holding this hearing and for your dedication 

to both ATC issues and airline competition. 

We have also worked with Secretary Peters and Administrator 

Sturgell on the JFK scheduling issues and other matters affecting 

airspace. I will note that it is critical that whatever steps they take 

should not be steps that close the door to competition. I will note 

that the IATA guidelines that Mr. Anderson mentioned could very 

well do that. 

Unfortunately, these are not new issues. I am going to read a 

quick quote for you. ′′delays of varying magnitude are encountered 

at many terminal areas. Congestion at these terminals frequently 

requires the imposition of traffic flow restrictions, creating backup 

delays throughout the system. A reduction in air traffic delays can 

be accomplished only by increasing capacity or decreasing demands.′′ Mr. Chairman, that statement was made in 1968 by the thenFAA Administrator, and it was the birth of the high-density rule 

that was only supposed to be put in place for a couple of years. It 

has now been in place since that time, and it has, in fact, significantly impacted competition and access. 

Our members, since they are growing, they have been constantly 

making changes, adding staff, doing lots of things to better serve 

the traveling public. We work closely with airports, but we also 

need to work and to convince TSA and Customs and Border Protection to provide the staffing and support that are necessary to move 

people through terminals. 

There are a couple of things we are doing, as the other two witnesses said. There is a lot more communication now between airlines and passengers—online, e-mail, phone messages—and those 

communications will continue. We remind passengers of the TSA 

restrictions. We do not want passengers to have to throw things 

away at terminals and have to leave things behind because they 

have wrapped them wrong or they are two or three ounces too big. 

We encourage people to show up early, and we remind people about 

other check-in options. 

Some of my carriers have done some other things. AirTran implemented NetTracer, which is a new system that monitors baggage, 

where it is, in case it is misplaced or put on the wrong flight. Frontier Airlines has at Denver, which is growing significantly, doubled 

ticket counter positions, has added kiosks. There has been a 17 to 

20 percent increase in customer staff. As Dave Barger mentioned, 

13

they have added new runway de-icing equipment and things to 

clear off parking areas and gates at DIA. Spirit Airlines has done 

a lot in working with TSA to increase check-in machines and better 

machines to look at baggage and things like that. 

These are all things that had to be done. We can control some 

things; we can’t control a lot of things. And we are trying to make 

sure that everything is addressed. 

I will note that a carrier that may only have five, six or maybe 

as many as 10 roundtrips at an airport does not have all of the 

same options as carriers of a lot more operations. You do not have 

all of the gates available to you. You do not have all of the personnel available to you. 

So, while we all want to make sure passengers are treated correctly, in some cases, it becomes a lot more difficult. Particularly 

in bad weather situations, it is not as easy to cancel. If you have 

three flights a day, for example, between Denver and National Airport, it is not as easy to cancel and to move flights around and 

back those flights up. 

We look forward to working with this Committee, and we are certainly going to continue to work with the DOT and the FAA on 

doing what can be done to improve performance or to improve the 

handling of customers. It is something that we all understand has 

to be number one behind safety in what we all do. We want those 

passengers flying again next week, at next holiday season and in 

the future. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. COSTELLO. The Chair thanks you, and recognizes at this 

time Ms. Bart. 

Ms. BART. Thank you. Chairman Costello, Ranking Member Petri 

and Members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation, thank you for inviting me. It is certainly a 

pleasure to be here this morning. 

I am Krys Bart, and I am the president and CEO of the RenoTahoe Airport Authority. And I am also currently the chair of the 

American Association of Airport Executives, which is the world’s 

largest professional organization representing men and women who 

run airports. 

The Reno-Tahoe International Airport is the 60th busiest commercial airport in the Nation, offering approximately 180 flights 

per day. It serves as the gateway to the spectacular Reno-Tahoe region, a vacation paradise and a growing business center. In 2006, 

Reno-Tahoe was ranked as one of the most efficient airports in 

North America, and we pride ourselves on offering leading-edge 

customer service. 

Mr. Chairman, on behalf of my colleagues at airports around the 

country, I would like to commend you, Ranking Member Petri, 

Chairman Oberstar and Ranking Member Mica, for all of your help 

on H.R. 2881, the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2007. 

Airports are particularly grateful that the 4-year FAA Reauthor- ization Bill would raise the PFC cap from $4.50 to $7 and would 

authorize a total of $15.8 billion for the AIP program for the next 

4 years. I realize I am preaching to the choir here, but both funding provisions are key to helping airports build the infrastructure 

they need to accommodate increasing passenger levels and the 

14

spikes that will continue to occur during not only this holiday season but many holiday seasons in the future. 

The House has done its part in passing H.R. 2881, and I hope 

that the Senate will follow your good lead. At your suggestion, I 

will make sure we continue to contact them. With airline delays 

and passenger complaints at an all-time high, we simply cannot afford to delay funding for critical infrastructure projects any longer. 

Mr. Chairman, today, my message is clear: Airports around the 

country are committed to helping passengers by providing topnotch customer service and by helping airlines and all of the other 

Federal agencies that we work with to carry out their responsibilities. Raising the PFC cap and increasing AIP funding will help reduce flight delays and passenger complaints in the long term, but 

I would like to take a moment to discuss some specific actions that 

various airports are taking today in the short term to prepare for 

this holiday season. 

Although passengers may not notice this, when they pass 

through the terminal, airport executives work closely with the airlines, the TSA, concessionaires and other tenants to ensure that 

those entities are prepared for the influx of passengers during the 

holidays. 

As an example, the Chicago Department of Aviation offers a 

prime example of coordination that takes place behind the scenes 

before passengers arrive at O’Hare and at Midway. The department works closely with all of its tenants to ensure both airports 

are prepared to accommodate increased passenger levels during the 

holidays. When passengers arrive at the terminal, airport personnel throughout the country strive to make their experience at 

the airport as convenient as possible. Although primary responsibility for passenger and baggage screening rests with the TSA, airports routinely help passengers by mitigating congestion and 

delays at the security checkpoints and at the airline ticket 

counters. 

At the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, we deploy passenger 

aides from 4:00 a.m. to midnight to help passengers navigate 

through the terminal and the security checkpoints. Our customers 

and our community will be pleased to know that they can find 

more passenger aides working in the terminal around the holidays 

and during peak travel periods. When the need arises, we also add 

all of our management team out in those same areas. 

A number of airports around the country have similar programs 

for passenger assistance. While experienced travelers may not directly rely on these services, assisting the many holidays travelers 

who are less familiar with airport facilities helps to reduce the wait 

time for all passengers. 

A number of airports also use the Registered Traveler Program 

to reduce wait times and passenger frustration at security checkpoints throughout the year and during peak travel times. This is 

particularly good assistance to our business travelers who continue 

to travel through the holidays. The Registered Traveler Program 

allows TSA to enhance aviation security and to improve system efficiency by focusing scarce resources on those individuals who represent the highest risk. 

15

At Reno-Tahoe, we began operating the Registered Traveler Program in June. Customers who enroll in our rtGO program present 

their personal identification card at the security checkpoint and 

pass through a separate line that expedites the screening process 

for all travelers, and it allows screeners to focus more intently on 

potential threats. Although the rtGO program has only been running for less than 5 months, we already have 500 passengers enrolled. These are passengers who also use other airports throughout the country, and currently, there are 13 airports enrolled in the 

program. We are very excited about this program and are confident 

that the positive results can and will be replicated in airports 

across the country. 

Many airports have extensive snow-removal plans in place 

should they be hit with severe winter storms over the holidays. 

Just like Denver, the Reno-Tahoe International Airport has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in new snow-removal equipment to speed and to expedite that process, to clear runways and 

to keep aircraft moving. 

As many of you may recall, the Denver International Airport was 

forced to temporarily close on December 20th last year because a 

severe blizzard caused whiteout conditions. The Denver Airport has 

spent a great deal of time and money upgrading its snow-removal 

requirements and equipment to prepare for storms this year. The 

new plan includes enhanced communication and coordination with 

the FAA and the airlines. The airport has also been upgrading its 

snow-removal equipment and plans to use additional personnel and 

snow-melters to help remove snow as quickly as possible. 

When storms cause delays in Denver, Chicago, New York and at 

other airports, those delays ripple throughout the entire aviation 

system. At airports like Reno, we feel the ripple effects. 

As for passengers who often drive long distances, we encourage 

them to get critical information about potential delays before they 

arrive at the airport. Toward that goal, our airport personnel constantly monitor weather around the country for potential delays 

and make every attempt imaginable to communicate those delays 

via TV, the Internet and even by phone calls if necessary. 

A number of airports also have emergency contingency plans in 

place should long onboard delays occur during the holidays. For instance, the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall 

Airport carefully monitors airfield activities and coordinates with 

the airlines when an aircraft is delayed for an extended period of 

time away from the gate. 

Mr. COSTELLO. Ms. Bart, I am going to have to ask you to summarize, please, quickly. 

Ms. BART. Thank you. I will. 

Let me just conclude by sharing with you that airport executives 

around the country look forward to continuing to work with Congress, with the administration, with the airlines and with other 

airport tenants to ensure that we are prepared for the upcoming 

holiday season. 

As I mentioned, we are committed to passengers by providing 

top-notch customer service and by helping airlines and Federal 

agencies carry out their responsibilities. 

Thank you again for the opportunity. 

16

Mr. COSTELLO. We thank you for your testimony. 

The Chair now recognizes Mr. Principato. 

Mr. PRINCIPATO. Chairman Costello and Ranking Member Petri, 

thank you for allowing Airports Council International the opportunity to participate in this important hearing. 

My name is Greg Principato, and I am president of ACI-North 

America. Our member airports enplane more than 95 percent of 

the domestic and virtually all of the international passenger and 

cargo traffic in North America. Four hundred aviation-related businesses are also members of ACI-North America. 

Holidays feature not only large numbers of passengers but many 

inexperienced travelers as well. Knowing this, each year airports 

put into place a number of customer service initiatives to ensure 

that passengers have a smooth, positive travel experience during 

the holiday season. 

Airports work with local media to provide important information 

for passengers before they leave for the airport. This includes 

things like the need to check the status of their flight before they 

leave home, the availability of parking, as well as if delays are expected due to weather, security issues or air traffic problems. Airports will also be advising passengers to be checking airport Web 

sites for timely information 24 hours a day. 

Additionally, we will remind travelers to decide before leaving 

home whether to pack their liquids, aerosols and gels into checked 

bags or to carry them on in three-ounce-or-smaller containers. 

Many airports provide complimentary resealable bags to help passengers contain these items. 

We are also working to ensure that parking booths are open. 

Some airports may have more shuttle buses and extra staff to assist passengers with automobile problems. Many airports will deploy additional law enforcement officers to monitor and to control 

traffic flow at the curbside. 

Several airport concessionaires, especially food outlets, will increase staff on the heaviest of travel days. 

Mr. PRINCIPATO. Many airports are working with local organizations like convention and visitors bureaus and the Red Cross to 

provide supplies to passengers in need, including in at least one 

case access to all-night pharmacies to fill prescriptions, if necessary. 

In colder climates, of course, where snow is predicted or already 

falling, airports will have on hand snow removal equipment and 

implement irregular operations plans. 

Ensuring secure and expeditious travel for passengers, as well as 

providing a high level of customer service is a shared responsibility 

between airports, airlines, TSA and Customs and Border Protection. However, airports understand the important role we play in 

addressing passenger needs during ground delays or severe weather. 

We have contingency plans in place to work with airlines in assisting passengers when weather or other factors cause irregular 

operations leading to extended ground delays. We are working in 

cooperation with our member airports, airlines and Federal authorities to make the current system better, which was the theme 

17

of the last hearing at which I testified; and we’ve responded to the 

Subcommittee’s urging in this area. 

In September, more than 40 industry representatives from 13 

airports and 6 major airlines gathered at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to facilitate better planning to collectively respond 

to significant service disruptions affecting passengers. The single 

most important conclusion was the need for airports and airlines 

to employ the same techniques that have long been successfully 

used to plan for emergencies, snowstorms and construction disruptions. 

In January, ACI-North America will convene a meeting in Washington, D.C., with representatives from the airports, airlines, FAA, 

TSA, and CBP to further identify needs and resources necessary to 

assure high-quality passenger service during major disruptive 

events. 

To quickly process the expected high volume of passengers during the holiday season, it is also critical that appropriate airline 

and TSA staffing be in place. Airports are already meeting with 

their airline partners and the Federal security directors at their 

airports to discuss these important issues and implement plans. 

ACI-North America appreciates this Committee’s leadership in 

recognizing that expanding physical airport capacity should be the 

first priority when responding to airport congestion. 

While airports are being proactive in working diligently this holiday season to assure a positive travel experience for our passengers, we believe that H.R. 2881 serves as a long-term solution 

that will provide airports the financial tools necessary to build critical safety and capacity projects, including new runways, taxiways 

and terminal space to meet growing passenger needs. By increasing the ceiling on the PFC user fee to $7, airports can 

meet the growing passenger demand by planning now to invest in 

modern, secure and comfortable and environmentally compliant facilities for air travel. And I think it’s worth noting that this holiday 

season will be a snapshot of what every day will be like in just a 

couple of years, and we need to plan for that. 

In closing, ACI-North America and its member airports thank 

you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Petri, for this opportunity; and we look forward to working with you. 

Mr. COSTELLO. We thank you for your testimony. 

Mr. Anderson and Mr. Barger, a question for you. I think—of 

course, I have read your testimony and heard you summarize your 

written statements in your testimony that you submitted for the 

record. I would ask that you specifically now address the issue of 

what you have done differently to prepare for this holiday season 

versus last year? I think people specifically want to know, both the 

airlines and the airports, what you’re doing differently. 

And I note in Mr. Anderson’s testimony you indicate that Delta 

has hired 350 pilots this year, but specifically for this holiday season, how many additional people have you hired or you will be calling out to work that 12-day period? Equipment-wise, are you bringing additional equipment in? 

So I would ask you to address that specific question; and, Mr. 

Anderson, if you’d like to go first. 

Mr. ANDERSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

18

I would first note for the record that in 2006 we ran a very good 

airline. Delta’s completion factor was 99.8 over the Thanksgiving 

holidays and our arrival within 14 on the domestic system was 

87.2. So we know how to do it. 

I would note that we have—year over year we’re up 350 pilots, 

1,300 flight attendants, 2,700 employees in our airport and customer service branch. Our spare airplanes, we normally operate the 

airline with about 10 to 12 spares, and we have an additional 10 

spares over the holidays, and we’re running somewhere around 85 

to 90 extra sections. 

Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Barger. 

Mr. BARGER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

And specifically, year over year, as we look at Thanksgiving, the 

holidays in December and also the peak travel period President’s 

day and into Easter Passover into next year, specifics with our airport groups starting—we have 3,500 crew members—and, again, I 

work for employees across our system, and that is plus-600 crew 

members on a year-over-year basis in preparation for the peak 

travel period. 

Our home at JFK Airport, 1,116 of those crew members are 

based at JFK, and year over year from the standpoint of winter operations, 150 new crew members dedicated to specifically de-icing 

and anti-icing. I also commented about increased real estate and 

our investment in de-icing equipment. 

Moving over into the reservations area, we’ve got a group—a 

complement of 1,600 crew members in our Salt Lake City reservations office, and we’re now 20 percent higher on a year-over-year 

basis with that staffing complement. So it’s approximately 300 

crew members to handle the telephones, even though most of our 

tickets are distributed by the Internet. 

Pilot staffing is at 850 crew members, in-flight staffing at 2,600 

crew members, and our technical component is in place as well. 

We’re supporting 132 airplanes this year. And as we get ready for 

the peak holiday period I think it’s important to note we call really 

things like vacation and personal time away from the organization—as Mr. Anderson commented, this is not a holiday for management. They will be displaced across our focus cities, including 

Kennedy and our other bases of operation as well. 

So I think we do have a good-news story as we prepare for the 

peak holiday period this year. 

Mr. COSTELLO. From the airport side, Mr. Principato, let me ask 

you, I said in my opening statement and we have discussed in 

meetings, both with you and with others, the critical need to communicate between the airlines and airports; and I wonder if you 

might touch on that. What has been done differently through this 

holiday season versus not communicating or working with the airlines in the past and anything else that you would like to add. 

Mr. PRINCIPATO. Well, I think it’s fair to say that, throughout 

time, airports and airlines have worked very well together airport 

to airport to deal with situations as they came up. I think, as we 

talked about the last time I was here, airports working more closely with airlines during irregular operations where maybe a plane’s 

out there on the tarmac for 3 or 4 hours where previously the InVerDate 0ct 09 2002 17:25 Feb 14, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\38920 HTRANS1 PsN: JASON
19

spector General asked the airports to be more proactive in working 

with the airlines to deal with that. 

The ultimate decision, of course, is the airline’s decision about 

what to do with that plane, but being more proactive to offer assistance, offer buses to get people back—I know at Dulles they will roll 

those mobile lounges out there to get people back if they need to—

helping to get food out and so forth and really just working more 

closely with the airlines in those irregular situations. 

I guess I should also say, in terms of the holidays, I think it’s 

fair to say that airports are really investing an awful lot of people 

and information in this effort. The more information the traveler 

has before they get to the airport and then when they’re there, the 

better off we are. The old commercial, back where I’m from in New 

York, an educated consumer is our best customer for the clothing 

store up there. That’s the way airports are really tackling this and 

deploying people within the terminal to help passengers who need 

the assistance. And, also, you know, the more people you have in 

the terminal you have more strain on the facilities, the restrooms 

and everything else, and having more staff on hand to help with 

those things as well and making sure things run smoothly. 

Mr. COSTELLO. Ms. Bart, did you want to comment? 

Ms. BART. Yes, thank you. 

Mr. Chairman, I think it can be summed up in enhanced communication between the airports and the airlines. I think the airline 

representatives in terms of the local managers and through the use 

of technology are in constant communication with their operation 

centers and in constant communication with airport management. 

That enhanced communication is what truly is helping us avoid unnecessary delays and, quite frankly, from keeping aircraft holding 

on tarmac because of delays upstream in the system. 

Mr. COSTELLO. Thank you. 

And at this time, the Chair recognizes the Ranking Member, Mr. 

Petri. 

Mr. PETRI. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman; and thank you 

for scheduling this important and timely hearing. I apologize for 

not being here at the beginning of the session, but it’s impossible 

to be two places at once, and I had to vote over in the Education 

and Labor Committee. I ask unanimous consent to put an opening 

statement in the record. 

Mr. COSTELLO. Without objection. 

Mr. PETRI. And also that a letter from the New York delegation 

to Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters be entered into the 

record at the request of Representative Randy Kuhl. 

Mr. COSTELLO. Without objection. 

Mr. PETRI. Thank you very much. 

I have a whole raft of questions, but I just would like to maybe—

I know I have 5 minutes, so I’ll get through a couple. 

The dollar is down, and so international travel, especially from 

Europe, should probably be up. I know the figures are 4 percent 

increase, and so it’s manageable, but you should be able to tell 

from ticket sales and other indications if, in fact, there will be a 

surge of foreign, especially over the Christmas holiday season, people from England and Europe coming to enjoy the good prices on 

20

the east coast and especially in the New York area where we already have a lot of congestion. 

Could you comment on it? Do you anticipate that or is it likely 

to be kind of a normal 4 percent or less increase in pressure, especially in the east coast where we’re already congested? 

Mr. ANDERSON. Since Delta’s the largest carrier across the transatlantic, it’s probably appropriate that I answer. 

We’ve seen robust demand continuing across the transatlantic for 

the services that we’ve added over the last 2 years to JFK and Atlanta, particularly. And we’ve seen both the benefit of the changes 

in currency or the differences in currency, and it has driven very 

significant demand internationally. In fact, the demand internationally is much greater than domestic demand. 

Second, I would note that our demand has been very significant 

from Africa, the Middle East and India. Those growing economies 

have really caused a very significant increase. 

And so our strategy at Delta has been to be the first U.S.-flagged 

carrier to provide nonstop service into the heart of Africa, and our 

goal over the next 3 years is to serve the nine major cities in Africa 

and to expand into the Middle East. 

And so to answer your question, in summary, yes, sir, we’ve seen 

very robust demand as a result of the currency differences in part; 

and, second, we have seen robust demand from unique destinations 

that we commit service to over the course of the past 2 years and 

that demand has been much greater than the demand we’ve seen 

domestically. 

Mr. PETRI. If I could, you may all want to respond, but I just 

want to say, in a separate area—and there’s no one on the panel 

who’s directly responsible for security at the airports in the Transportation Security Administration, but one of the big areas of 

delay, anticipated or unanticipated, is really not within your direct 

purview. It has to do with surges at airports and delays in personnel coming on, and suddenly people are missing their flight because they’re delayed for an hour instead of 20 minutes or 30 minutes getting through the security and especially with a lot of inexperienced travelers, foreign travelers who may either psychologically or really pose additional problems. This could compound 

delays for the traveling public. 

Could you comment on your consulting with or working with the 

security people to make sure that they have adequate personnel or 

you can help expedite that one way or another with your customers? 

Mr. BARGER. If I may, Ranking Member Petri, thank you for the 

question. There’s collaboration with the TSA. This is all one dynamic ecosystem; and so we’re working with the FAA, working 

with the TSA, the airport operators in our case. For example, in 

New York, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and 

many others across our system and the TSA and others, we all 

have to be working in alignment with each other and interface with 

each other. 

And so, while we continue to do that and we’ve seen advancement along the lines of collaboration, sharing information such as 

expected loads and just what we’re anticipating on the ground, I 

21

think it goes—it’s so important to reinforce the need for the proper 

capital investment, the proper equipment. 

Our new terminal at Kennedy, which, again, we plan to open in 

about a year, will include $15 million worth of the latest in-line 

equipment to support what the TSA staff is doing. But it is this—

this system does not work properly without the TSA at the table 

with all other parties making sure that we have a smooth transition through the airport. 

Mr. PETRI. One last quick question. If you’re—especially an inexperienced traveler, but if you’re getting ready to go visit your family for Christmas or Thanksgiving, do you have any advice as to 

what they should do? Are there numbers they can call or are there 

ways that they can, you know, interact as efficiently as possible 

with you and with the facilities at the airport? 

Mr. BARGER. If I may, and I believe Mr. Anderson wants to comment as well, but there’s—again, I look at this as also a good-news 

story. There’s so many lessons learned with the investment in technology and allowing customers and crew members or families picking up customers to really access information like flight-following 

information, what’s happening with the flight across the country. 

The use of technology I think is a very important comment. Of 

course, calling telephone reservations and interfacing is standard 

protocol, but also start to see things such as interface with the airport authority such as the Port Authority, what’s expected, what 

type of delays, also the dot.gov Web site. There’s many different 

ways to really gain that information. So I think starting with the 

technology, but I think certainly the human element is in place as 

well. 

Mr. FABERMAN. I want to add to that and say that almost every 

airline, almost every airport now has Web sites where you can get 

information about what to carry on their aircraft, how to best package things. There’s a lot more communication than there ever has 

been. 

We’re also, as they said, supporting TSA and putting in more 

equipment and giving people more advice ahead of time. 

Mr. ANDERSON. I’d only want to go back to the security question. 

We don’t control the security lines. We have a concern about security lines. We even have days this past fall in Atlanta, non-Thanksgiving travel periods, where we have waits up to an hour in a normal operating day. So we are concerned about what these loads 

will bring in terms of TSA staffing, and we’re doing our best to coordinate with the local security directors to understand what the 

load factors are going to be. 

Mr. COSTELLO. Thank you. 

The Chair at this time recognizes the gentleman from Oregon, 

Mr. DeFazio. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

To Mr. Anderson, I applaud you for what I see in your testimony 

about some of the steps you’ve taken in terms of customer protections and, in particular, your intention to make much more available on-time performance information and these sorts of tools. 

And Mr. Barger, I know that your airline has adopted similar. 

22

Mr. Faberman, what are some of the other airlines doing? Since 

we don’t have ATA here, I’ve got to turn to you and see what you 

know about what other airlines are doing. 

Mr. FABERMAN. Congressman, I think we’re doing many of the 

same things. We’re adding people. We have a lot more customer 

service people in place. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Are they putting things in the contract of carriage 

like this? Because that’s a valuable tool to customers. 

Mr. FABERMAN. Yes, and, you know, we are dealing more and 

more and more with customers before flights, at the airports; and 

if they have problems, we’re trying to put other things in place. 

As I mentioned, one of the carriers has put in a new tracing system for baggage. There’s technology out there now that is making 

it easier, although not easy, to handle all kinds of problems and 

disruptions. So we’re doing a lot of things and including more staffing and equipment. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Okay. And then, Mr. Anderson, in response to your 

concerns, just so you have a little historic knowledge here, about 

4 years ago, the Chairman of the then Transportation Appropriations and then later Homeland Security, Hal Rogers from Kentucky, arbitrarily cut the number of screeners by about 15,000, 

never—and the Bush administration went along with it. 

Mr. Mica and I have asked for years when we had jurisdiction 

here to give us—given their outmoded technology—you can do security one of two ways: great technology, few people; bad technology, 

lots of people. We’re doing it with bad technology and few people, 

which leads to these lengthy lines; and we’re attempting to challenge the President on this issue this year and raise the funding 

and lift the cap on screeners for TSA and give them more money 

for new equipment and would welcome your support in that effort. 

It’s critical, I believe, to safety and security and customer satisfaction. 

Mr. ANDERSON. Our employees in this industry have to have an 

effective security system that doesn’t create long lines, is effective, 

ensuring the safety of our passengers and crew members; and, in 

the end, it’s not acceptable to not have sufficient staffing or sufficient technology to make sure our airplanes are safe. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Right. We just had Mr. Hawley in Homeland Security yesterday or the day before, and he was testifying about the 

millimeter wave portals walk-throughs have proved so successful 

that they’re thinking of routinely having all passengers go through 

them. There’s no way—you just walk through it. It reveals any contraband or problems. You do away with the frisking and the 

wanding and all the selecting and everything else. It could increase 

throughput dramatically, but the administration has not seen fit to 

ask for the funding to go ahead and buy these devices; and, again, 

we would ask for your help in dealing with these. 

Mr. ANDERSON. Well, going back a little bit in history, as I recall 

being here right after 9/11, we, in fact, put a tax on our passengers 

to be able to fund these security requirements. So we’ve put a funding mechanism in place; and the success of our business, the safety 

of our employees and passengers depends upon having efficient and 

effective security screening at airports. 

23

Mr. DEFAZIO. I want to turn quickly to one other thing which 

isn’t the subject matter today, but I think the Chairman will agree 

with me this warrants some real focus by the Committee, and it’s 

the discrimination against the domestic carriers in favor of foreign 

carriers. 

I’m totally bemused. I read through that section of your testimony a couple of times, on what the administration and the FAA 

are doing here; and, as you know, on the other side of the Atlantic, 

it doesn’t work that way. 

Mr. ANDERSON. No, it doesn’t work that way. In fact, it’s going 

on on the other side of the Atlantic and the other side of the Pacific. 

Our philosophy seems to be that after we engage in open skies 

negotiation and obtain access, that foreign flags have unfettered access and don’t participate in the schedule reductions that Dave and 

I are participating in right now. And, in fact, we had a speech here 

from the President of British Airways last week saying that British 

Airways was planning on using the new open skies agreement with 

the EU to significantly expand service into JFK and didn’t think 

that the flight cap issue was going to be an impediment. And that’s 

because the 60 foreign flag carriers that fly into JFK are not participating in the scheduled reduction process. 

Mr. BARGER. If I may as well, Congressman, also those aircraft 

that are flying a foreign flag, if you will, they’re not subject to any 

type of reporting metrics. And so there’s more than a few times 

when I have a fleet that’s circling because of congestion—it could 

be on a very good day. It just happens to be windy somewhere over 

North Carolina. But all the aircraft are making their way into JFK 

because there’s a different set of rules for those aircraft, and that 

simply is not fair. 

And it’s not that I want to punish those aircraft. Just participate 

equally. Because those airplanes are bringing in customers that are 

connecting into the Jet Blue system that has the largest airline 

system at Kennedy. So, again, it has to be this ecosystem of everybody participating equally. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. My time has expired, Mr. Chairman, but I would 

hope the Committee would follow up strongly on that. 

Mr. COSTELLO. It is a major problem, and Mr. Anderson covered 

some of it in his testimony. I certainly agree, and we will. 

Let me inform everyone that we have three votes that have been 

called on the floor of the House. We have 10 minutes to get to the 

floor and record our first votes. So we will stand in recess, and we 

would ask our witnesses to come back. We have other Members 

who have questions. We would anticipate coming back from voting, 

let’s say, at 11:45, about 30 minutes from now. 

The Subcommittee will stand in recess. 

[recess.] 

Mr. COSTELLO. The Chair would ask the witnesses to take their 

place at the table. 

At this time, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from North 

Carolina, Mr. Coble. 

Mr. COBLE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Good to have you witnesses with us today. 

24

Folks, my comment earlier about my constituent who said he 

would prefer to undergo a root canal procedure rather than negotiate airports, that notwithstanding, I agree with what Mr. Duncan 

said earlier. I think airlines and airports generally do a good job, 

but the shortcomings and the failures are the ones that permanently linger; and, hopefully, we’ll overcome that one of these days. 

I read with interest in the hearing memo, Mr. Chairman, that 

during the holiday season some airlines are boarding full flights 

earlier to ensure on-time departures, reserving seats to accommodate passengers whose flights might be canceled or delayed, and 

placing kiosks in secured boarding areas to help passengers that 

need to be rebooked. 

Can any of these plans that you all are emphasizing during the 

holiday season be permanently implemented year-round to address 

the problems? Mr. Anderson and Mr. Barger. 

Mr. BARGER. Thank you for the question, Congressman; and the 

answer is yes. And, in fact, I think many of these enhancements 

are part of what Jet Blue, Delta and other airlines are doing to 

really make the travel experience more seamless. For example, the 

use of kiosks, whether it’s in gate-hold areas or at ticket counters, 

the whole issue of allowing a customer to self-service, make a 

change to a reservation if in fact there is a disruption, as opposed 

to stand in line in the service center, make a telephone call. So examples like that and so many more, whether it’s boarding in a 

timely manner, that’s just good business 365 days of the year. 

So I think we look at the Thanksgiving period and the holidays 

upcoming, it’s a little bit different customer, much more of a family 

and strollers and wheelchairs and what have you, and just it takes 

a little bit different type of preparation because it’s different than 

the Monday through Friday business traveler. So we do all that 

and more to make sure we’re communicating expectations to our 

staff. 

Mr. COBLE. Do you concur, Mr. Anderson? 

Mr. ANDERSON. Yes, sir. 

Mr. COBLE. That’s encouraging. I look forward to experiencing 

that. 

Let me put the question to either or all of the three witnesses 

to my right. 

Record load factors are expected this holiday season, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and planes will inevitably be filled. How will 

both the network and low-fare carriers accommodate bumped passengers who miss their flight? How will you all be able to help 

those folks get home for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner in a 

timely way? 

Mr. FABERMAN. Well, I think, Congressman, one of the things 

that airlines are doing now is they’re reducing the number of, 

quote, overbooked seats on flights. So we’re not selling as many 

seats on each flight as has historically been the point. So we’re trying to keep those numbers as reasonable as possible. 

Secondly, you know, we—I think as both Richard and David 

talked about before, on a continuing basis airlines now are having 

conferences within their organization and within their systems to 

look at where—how flights are operating. And if they see any type 

of delay, like this morning there were some delays going into New 

25

York, airlines automatically are beginning to look at what other options are out there. Is there a close-by airport we could put people 

on a flight to that airport? You know, what time is our next flight? 

And even working with other airlines on some of their flights. 

Mr. COBLE. Ms. Bart or Mr. Principato? 

Ms. BART. Yes, thank you. 

I think that there are two important aspects to this from the airport perspective. The first is to have additional staff. At the RenoTahoe International Airport, we call those people passenger aides 

who help take stranded passengers back to ticket counters to 

rebook or back to kiosks to rebook. 

While airports cannot do the booking for them and airports can’t 

control the available seats, we can work very hard to make our 

passengers feel comfortable. So if they are stranded or if there are 

additional delays because they’ve been bumped from a flight and 

have to wait for another, I think those common conveniences of 

having additional concession opportunities, having places to sleep 

if necessary by virtue of cots, you know, having water and food 

available, those are the kinds of things that we have and are going 

out of our way to make sure we have to support that customer and 

that passenger. 

Mr. COBLE. Mr. Principato. 

Mr. PRINCIPATO. I just want to add just a little bit to what Krys 

said, and I think she covered it quite well. But, as I said earlier, 

airports are going even above and beyond what you would think, 

working with community groups, as I said before, the Red Cross, 

convention and visitors bureaus, local pharmacies, food outlets and 

so forth to make sure that that any passengers who are bumped 

and have to spend an inordinate amount of time at the airport are 

well taken care of. 

Mr. COBLE. I thank you for that. 

And let me conclude, Mr. Barger, with you. What caused JFK to 

go from I guess what was a more or less an orderly atmosphere 

when they attracted you-all 8 years ago to what I guess is universally now known as chaos? What happened? 

Mr. BARGER. Well, it’s—when we started flying, you’re right, the 

number of flight activity or movements per day looked at 750 

movements, and it’s now in excess of 1,400 movements per day. 

The reason we originated our flying at JFK is because in the New 

York metropolitan area there was just so much in the way of capacity that was not being utilized. And so I think—I’d like to think 

that our success in growing Kennedy has certainly been attractive 

to other carriers and their growth plans. 

It’s certainly what’s happening with Delta and the growth and 

American Airlines and their new terminal and growth, as well as 

our growth and the international carriers. It’s all been as a result 

of really a capacity that wasn’t being utilized over a period of time. 

I think today, and it—we would like to—even though we have 

asked and we appreciate the Secretary being involved with taking 

a look at potential hourly caps at Kennedy, it’s unfortunate because 

really our headline is one of there’s additional capacity that we 

should go after through the use of technology and the proper investment. And Kennedy Airport today is the primary gateway in 

26

and out of the United States. With some type of limitation, that is 

not the right thing to do as we move into the future. 

Mr. COBLE. Mr. Anderson. 

Mr. ANDERSON. Yes, Congressman. 

First, I’d like to thank all of our great employees at Delta from 

JFK that are here today; and I think they know well the challenges 

that we face there. 

But at a base level, JFK, according to FAA-published statistics, 

should operate at a capacity of 100 operations an hour. This past 

summer it operated at 65. It is an airport with four runways. It’s 

double the size of La Guardia, but it handles the same number per 

hour as La Guardia. 

So when we think about capping or putting other restrictions in 

place, we shouldn’t be doing it until we’ve figured out how we run 

the airport in an efficient way. It’s got two widely spaced parallel 

runways, and the airport should operate at the level it was designed at some many years ago, and it’s not. And in fact, its production has been going down year over year. 

And the carriers that serve there, particularly the U.S.-flagged 

carriers—Jet Blue, American, Delta—the carriers should be able to 

expect that the airport is operated efficiently and safely at its maximum capacity. 

Mr. COBLE. I thank you. 

Mr. Chairman, I think this has been a good hearing. I yield back. 

Mr. COSTELLO. I thank the gentleman. 

Let me ask a point of clarification before I go to the gentleman 

from Iowa. In ATA’s press release—and you mentioned, Mr. 

Faberman, blocking of seats or maybe not overbooking flights to 

the extent that might happen normally during the holiday season. 

I wonder if I might ask the three of you—in particular, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Barger and Mr. Faberman—to address that issue. 

In fact, ATA, I have their press release here. It says, one of the 

things that will be done out of many will be blocking of seats in 

key markets on peak holiday travel for its use to re-accommodate 

passengers whose flights are cancelled or delayed due to inclement 

weather. Can you explain for those of us here in this room what 

you mean by that, the blocking of seats in key markets? Mr. 

Barger? 

Mr. BARGER. I will. 

From a Jet Blue perspective, Mr. Chairman, probably the best 

way I could clarify that with our operational plan is, as we’re—over 

the period of the holiday, we’ll end up with an 85 to 90 percent load 

factor. Certainly, there’s some days that will be quite peak, the 

Sunday after Thanksgiving, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. 

And as we look at potentially accommodating disruptive customers, our methodology has been one of operational spare aircraft. 

And so our fleet of 132 airplanes will have 127 flying, 5 operational 

spares—Boston, New York, Long Beach, California, as well as 

down in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. So that’s the way that we take a 

look at accommodating a disrupted traveler over the course of the 

travel experience. 

Mr. ANDERSON. Flights are overbooked because the no-show rate 

is very high. So when we set up overbooking levels, each flight has 

an overbooking level based upon its historic no-show rate. And the 

27

reason we have to do that is, when people don’t show up, then the 

airplane’s going to fly with an empty seat, and at $90 oil or $70 

oil, we can’t afford as a business to have people not show up. So 

we overbook. 

What we do during Thanksgiving, understanding that the noshow rate goes down, is you reduce the overbooking levels. You operate extra sections which is in very dense markets with a lot of 

traffic. You put extra flights in. So we’ll run some 80-some-odd 

extra sections. 

And then, lastly, our load factor’s predicted to be in the low 80s 

through Thanksgiving. So we have a fair amount of capacity in the 

schedule; and between those three factors—reducing the overbooking level, running extra sections and running a slightly lower 

load factor than we ran over the summer—we will have sufficient 

capacity to be able to accommodate rebookings. 

Mr. FABERMAN. I just want to add to what Richard said, and it 

is a different set of customers that fly during the brief holiday period than normally. And, you know, when you have a lot of business customers flying, people hopping back and forth and different 

things, they will frequently miss flights or change flights. So your 

system needs to prepare for that and needs to understand that we 

don’t want to leave with 15 empty seats. So at certain times of the 

year, certain times of the week, you do tend to overbook a little 

more. 

During the holiday time period, it’s a lot more family travel, lot 

more people going on vacations; and those people don’t not show up 

as frequently. They show up, and they’re there, and they’re ready 

to go, and they don’t really switch flights a lot. 

So if you just book 85 percent, 90 percent of the aircraft, you’re 

going to have that many people; and that gives you some extra 

seats that at the last minute you can hand out. 

Mr. COSTELLO. I thank you; and the Chair now recognizes the 

gentleman from Iowa, Mr. Boswell. 

Mr. BOSWELL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and appreciated the 

give-and-take and discussion. 

I’ve got a couple of questions about some of the things you said 

I want you to clarify. But just before we do that, there’s something 

that kind of grinds on me, if I could say it. I think that I certainly 

am and I think everybody on the Committee is advocates for the 

airlines, and we’ve shown that over and over since 9/11. 

We’re also advocates for general aviation, and it irritates me to 

see in your publications in the pocket of your seats the distortion 

about what’s going on on this situation about general aviation. So 

quit it. That’s my suggestion to you. 

If you want to comment on it, you’re welcome to do it. But you 

just don’t make any mention—get all the notes you want, but you 

don’t make any mention about the taxation on fuel and the things 

that general aviation pays for. 

I’m going to continue to support you, because I know you are extremely important to our economy and service to our country in 

many, many ways, and we’ll continue to do that, but come on, let’s 

do what’s right. 

Now, Mr. Anderson, you made some comment—and if you want 

to comment, you’re welcome to do so. You made some comment 

28

about describing or talking about a check-in process called dropand-go, and I don’t know if I understand all that. So, just briefly, 

would you say something about that? 

Mr. ANDERSON. The goal is to make the process of moving 

through the airport as simple and as easy as possible. So we have 

devised a system whereby you check in at home, check in at home 

on the Internet. You can verify what time your flight’s leaving; and 

at that time, when you check in, you check in at home on the Internet and designate the number of bags you’re going to check. And 

then as soon as you get to the airport there are separate areas both 

on the curb and in the lobby—we call it drop-and-go. You walk in, 

you’re already checked in, you scan your boarding pass that you 

printed at home under a reader, and your bag tags print out. We 

have an employee there that’s ready to help with that. 

Mr. BOSWELL. Reclaiming my time, that sounds great. I appreciate it, and we use the Internet to get our pre-boarding pass. So 

at the time I’m assuming you can do that. So I normally don’t try 

to check baggage because I like to have it when I get to the other 

end. So I won’t go there, but that’s a good idea. I hope that you 

continue working on that. 

The other one I think is that I believe it was one of you mentioned—I’ve got a moment here or two left. I think it was you, Mr. 

Barger, who was talking about new processes to handle lengthy 

delays, including the on-board delay escalation procedure. So would 

you just expand a little bit on what the on-board delay escalation 

procedure is and how it will affect passengers on aircraft? 

Mr. BARGER. Yes, I will. Thank you, Congressman, and also 

thank you for your comments regarding the importance of general 

aviation as part of the community using the skies. We certainly respect those comments. 

From the perspective of the escalation of a customer on an airplane, and probably the theme I would use is one of situational 

awareness, and, to be very candid, lessons learned from our February event up in New York, where we put in place and now FAA 

endorsed and approved an on-board escalation policy at 60 minutes, 120 minutes, 180 minutes—but through our system operations center, in coordination with a local airport, in coordination 

with our crew and dispatch, that we have perfect visibility into how 

long a customer has been on an aircraft, whether that’s waiting to 

take off or whether that’s waiting for a gate. And, candidly, we 

didn’t have that in place in the February time frame when we had 

the incident earlier this year. 

To also support when, in fact, we are in those type of situations—and, hopefully, they’re very, very rare—that’s where we 

have instituted our bill of rights to make sure that we make good 

on our commitment if, in fact, we’ve broke a contract, if you will, 

with a customer. And that could be for a delay or a cancellation 

but certainly making sure that the information flow is steady. Because, at the end of the day, number one, what customers and crew 

members want and expect is crisp, timely, honest communication. 

Mr. BOSWELL. Thank you very much. 

And that last part is I—you know, I went through a miserable 

day a week ago Monday getting here with delays on aircraft, maintenance, three in a row, and it can’t be helped. You’ve got to preVerDate 0ct 09 2002 17:25 Feb 14, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00040 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\38920 HTRANS1 PsN: JASON
29

flight, you’ve got to do those things, you’ve got to take your safety 

checks, and I understand that, and I don’t quarrel that at all. It 

really makes the passengers—being a frequent passenger, to know 

what’s going on, and just say it like it is. Just tell the truth and 

be quick to say it. And it just stops a lot of bad feelings. And so 

I want to encourage everybody, please keep picking up on that, because we like it. 

And back to—and I’m going to—I have to go. My time’s up. But 

back to my earlier comment on we do support you, and you know 

that, and we also support aviation, general aviation and, you know, 

and a lot of your passengers are people that are involved one way 

or another not only as pilots but users and owners of general aviation. So I would hope that we do what I asked you to do earlier. 

And thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. 

Mr. COSTELLO. Thank you. 

And the Chair now recognizes the gentleman from Michigan, Dr. 

Ehlers. 

Mr. EHLERS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

And usually one sermon a day is enough, but let me just add to 

Mr. Boswell’s sermon. Get off GA’s back. I have a couple of reasons 

for that, in addition to the one he mentioned. That’s going to be 

your source of pilots in the future, I’m convinced. If you look at 

what is happening to the Armed Forces, the number of pilots produced by the Armed Forces is likely to drop fairly dramatically in 

the future through unmanned vehicles and other uses of equipment. So just remember that the pilot in the GA cockpit may be 

one of your pilots someday. 

Having said that, let me make a few comments as a frequent 

flier and also as one who loves aviation and really supports your 

industry. 

It seems to me one basic category that you have to be prepared 

for, even though it’s expensive to prepare for, is the disasters. I’m 

very familiar with one which happened in Detroit some years ago. 

I believe Mr. Anderson’s probably even more familiar with that 

one, when the sudden drop of 10 or 12 inches of snow just stopped 

the airport cold. There were so many mismanagement decisions 

made at that time; and it was finally—started to move when a passenger, who happened to have Mr. Anderson’s phone number, gave 

it to the pilot. The pilot called him, described it and suddenly 

things started moving. It shouldn’t take that. 

But there have been other disasters. You’ve had some similar 

ones recently. Jet Blue encountered one. 

There has to be more planning and more training for emergencies. They are going to happen, and I recognize that they’re expensive to plan and train for because they’re infrequent. And so 

they—it may seem like they’re not worthwhile, but it has to be 

done because—simply because of the huge, bad publicity you get 

when those happen. So I encourage you to do that. 

Something else I think there is a legitimate complaint about, and 

I understand that the tradition of the ship carries over to the airplanes. The pilot is the captain of the airplane, and he makes the 

decision, and that’s it, period. 

30

But I have been on planes. I’ve sat on the tarmac a very long 

time, and one of them, which is pre-9/11, and those of us who are 

on this Committee had permits to be in the cockpit if we wanted. 

I was in the cockpit of one that sat on the tarmac for 3 hours. 

Passengers were getting restless. The flight attendant came up 

front, said we have a claustrophobic woman who’s about to lose it, 

et cetera, et cetera. And the basic reason the pilot didn’t want to 

go back to the airport and just let the passengers off until he could 

be released was because he didn’t want to lose his place in the 

flight line-up, and he, you know, just sat there in the hope that at 

some time the weather would clear and he could take off. And if 

he went back to the terminal, he would lose it and have to go back 

through the process. 

I think it would be very worthwhile with a lot of these cases that 

you work with the FAA and the airports to provide in a situation 

like that, where pilots and a plane are delayed, they get accelerated departure permissions to take off. It’s only fair, and if you 

don’t have that, you lose not only lose your place in line, you also 

lose your place in line at your destination. And, as you know, one 

late flight perpetuates a lot of problems for passengers trying to get 

onto other flights. They get overcrowded and so forth. 

So I would hope that you would consider that, and I will give you 

a minute to comment about that. 

I just have one other issue to raise, wondering what is the role 

of the FAA’s air space redesign efforts in reducing congestion and 

travel delays. And if it’s implemented, how will that affect your 

customers? What can be done to implement it? 

So I’ve thrown out a lot of things. We will just go along the line 

and get responses as time permits. 

Mr. Anderson, you want to go first. 

Mr. ANDERSON. On the issue of taxi-out delays and prioritization, 

you know, there are a number of task forces. There’s actually one 

working right now with FAA on those kinds of steps. So, you know, 

I would encourage us as an industry to take your comment under 

consideration and determine how we can work through the 

prioritization when you do have long ground stops of takeoffs. 

Mr. EHLERS. Let me just interject here. You have a Committee 

here who is willing to help you, by and large. So if you need our 

help, don’t hesitate to contact the Chairman and Ranking Member. 

Mr. ANDERSON. Thank you. 

With respect to next generation, FAA is critical. If you look at 

FAA forecasts, it’s forecasted that U.S. Emplanements will grow 

from about 700,000 this year to a billion in the next 5 years. That 

is a credit to the success of deregulation and the accessibility of air 

travel to every American. 

In order to be able to accommodate that demand, we have to 

have the next-generation air traffic system. You use GPS to navigate in your automobiles. We don’t use it to navigate airplanes. We 

still fly in the national air transportation system the same way we 

flew 50 years ago, from VOR to VOR to VOR with set routings; and 

in order to accommodate the growth that is an important engine 

of the American economy, we have to have the investment in capacity and safety to be certain that we can accommodate a billion 

passengers a year. And I’m certain this Committee and Mr. ChairVerDate 0ct 09 2002 17:25 Feb 14, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00042 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\38920 HTRANS1 PsN: JASON
31

man want to be in a situation where we’re sitting here 5 years 

from now and we’ve been able to make the investment necessary 

to meet the demand of the consumer, the travelling consumer 

today. 

So next-gen is critical to being able to do that; and in the short 

run, between now and the time that we have all of the next-gen 

developments in place, we need to work cooperatively to do those 

things that will incrementally increase capacity. 

USA Today had a very good article about 2 weeks ago about a 

number of airports around the country that have actually reduced 

their delays over the past year by investment in air traffic and airfield capacity. 

So we need to take all the steps in the short term to meet demand, and we’ve got to make the investment as a country and the 

commitment as a country to implement the next-gen system in 

order to meet the billion passengers that are going to be flying in 

the airways over the course of the next 5 to 10 years. 

Mr. COSTELLO. The Chair thanks the gentleman and now recognizes the gentleman from Missouri, Mr. Carnahan. 

Mr. CARNAHAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member. 

And, to the panel, I hail from St. Louis, Missouri. We have Lambert International Airport there, which is among the top 10 busiest 

for holiday travel. We appreciate the presence of Delta, Jet Blue, 

American, Southwest, and many others there. They’ve been part of 

growing the service back at Lambert. 

But the environment for this holiday season, where we expect 

travel up 4 percent, flights to be 80, 90 percent full—we saw a year 

with record low on-time arrivals, and media reports about this environment certainly have given the traveling public and consumers 

reason to be concerned. 

That’s why I especially appreciate the reports here in terms of 

your all-hands-on-deck approach to being ready for at least all the 

contingencies that you can be; and if there’s anything you can do 

about the holiday weather, that would be a plus. 

But I guess I’d like to ask the question in terms of the human 

elements that were mentioned in the testimony in terms of advice 

for the traveling public, in terms of what they can do to help with 

the process, and especially for those nonfrequent fliers that may 

not be as used to the traveling regime now. What’s the best advice 

you can give to those traveling consumers? 

Mr. ANDERSON. Okay, really practical. One, check the Internet 

for the airline you’re traveling on and verify what time your flight’s 

leaving. 

Second, determine from the Internet site what time you’re supposed to report for your flight, domestic or international. 

Third, it’s always practical to have somebody drop you off at the 

airport at the front. Then you can avail yourself of skycaps and 

check in on the curb. 

Use the Internet technology. You can check in at home on virtually every airline, and you can designate how many bags you’re 

going to check. Take advantage of that. And when you get to the 

airport, you just merely have to go to the skycap to drop your bags 

or go to into the ticket counter. 

32

When you get to the security checkpoint, mind the carry-on policies. You know, the carry-on policy is one right-sized carry-on. Congressmen know this probably better than any other travelers in the 

world. Mind the carry-on policies and don’t carry wrapped packages 

through the checkpoint because you may have to unwrap them. 

And my tip of the day is always wear slip-on shoes. 

Mr. BARGER. If I may, Congressman, I think, just adding to Richard’s comments which cover the whole travel experience, but at the 

same time it—I think we have a good news story as well, and we 

have to be prepared for it. I think that airlines and airports and 

FAA, TSA, tremendous collaboration, but, at the same time, don’t 

come out 4 to 6 hours early to the airport. 

There’s almost scare stories that are out there about how bad it’s 

going to be. It’s not the case. We just went through a July and August time frame that was actually—the load factors were probably 

as high over an extended period of time, and it’s a tough period of 

time because of convective weather activity, and we do run the risk 

of Mother Nature and winter operations this time of the year. But, 

by all means, come to the airport with all of us, crew members and 

our own staff, with the proper attitude, because there’s a tremendous amount of preparation that’s gone into this holiday. But be 

timely but not too early. 

Mr. PRINCIPATO. If I could just say, too, last year was a really 

good, I think, test of the system because it was the first Thanksgiving where we had the new liquids and gels rules, and you had 

all those first-time travelers. 

I’ve been through that St. Louis Airport with infant twins in the 

past, and my wife grew up in Illinois, and I know what this is like. 

And so you have people who don’t travel all that often; and, last 

year, they were going to come with liquids and gels. They didn’t 

know what shampoo they couldn’t take and whatever. 

The airports got together with TSA and the airlines to really get 

that information out. We put a lot of people on the ground; and, 

really, I think last Thanksgiving went actually pretty well, pretty 

smoothly. Weather, of course, cooperated, which is nice; and you 

mentioned that earlier. 

I think last year was a pretty good run-through for what we’re 

going to see this year, because we had those new rules in place 

that so many people hadn’t experienced before. And because of the 

information and the human resources we put into it, it actually 

went pretty well. 

Mr. CARNAHAN. Any others? 

If not, thank you very much; and I yield back. 

Mr. COSTELLO. Thank you. 

The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. 

Westmoreland. 

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Thank you, Mr. Chairman; and I apologize 

for being late and not being able to hear you on the testimony. But 

I’ve been in another hearing with the TSA talking about some of 

the things Mr. Carnahan just asked as far as carry-on luggage. 

I will just tell you from the experience—and I fly Delta most of 

the time——

Mr. ANDERSON. Thank you. 

33

Mr. WESTMORELAND. —you know, there’s people that carry on everything but the kitchen sink, and so I hope that we would maybe 

enforce that a little bit better. 

But, Mr. Anderson, I want to thank you for being here. As you 

may or may not know, I represent more Delta employees, retired 

and active, than any other Member in Congress; and I’m very 

proud of that. I’m also very proud of the fact that my wife worked 

in marketing and advertising for Delta when we were first married. 

I was a ramp rat at Delta, actually bled grey and blue for a long 

time in my life; and my daughter was a flight attendant for Delta. 

So we’ve had a lot of family connection, not to mention the number 

of friends that we have that work for Delta. 

And, you know, as a congressional delegation, I think that we 

have worked very hard for Delta Airlines. We went through the 

pension, the bankruptcy; and we’re so proud of Delta, that they’re 

out of bankruptcy and that they are doing well and the business 

plan that was came up with is doing good. And, of course, with oil 

being over $90 a barrel, I know that it didn’t really work into your 

recovery plan that well; and we hope that in the future that will 

come down. 

But I must say that I was disappointed to read in the paper 

about merger talks with United, kind of blind-sided, you know. And 

it’s one thing in this political business when the press calls you up 

and—especially after all the things that we’ve gone through with 

Delta—and blind-sides you, wanting you to quote on the economic 

engine for the world’s busiest airport, I believe, talking merger 

with another airline. 

Mr. WESTMORELAND. And so I was disappointed in that, and I 

read the release that Delta put out, and I think your exact words 

were that there have been no talks with United regarding any type 

of consolidation transaction, and there are no such ongoing discussions. 

I just want to hear it from you. I want to look at you eyeball to 

eyeball. 

Mr. ANDERSON. That is fair. 

Mr. WESTMORELAND. I want you to look at me, eyeball to eyeball, 

and tell me that Delta Airlines has not been in discussions or in 

negotiations or in anything else or in communications with United 

Airlines about a merger. 

Mr. ANDERSON. It has not. I was actually as surprised as you 

were—you probably as a Congressman are, maybe, little more used 

to this—reading in the paper that I had been in these conversations when I have not talked to Glenn Tilton or any other executive 

at United Airlines since the last time I was in the industry about 

4 years ago. 

So there are no discussions. There have been no discussions. And 

I think I was as surprised by that Associated Press article as you 

were. 

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Well, I appreciate that. You know, we feel 

like, especially with the roots of Delta, that you are a good southern company. 

Mr. ANDERSON. We are. 

Mr. WESTMORELAND. I know you are. 

34

Like I said, I have been part of that family. We do not want the 

family moving north. We want to keep the family in Atlanta. We 

want to keep it together, and we want it to be that strong, viable 

airline that it started out being. 

And I know we have gone through some tough times, but we are 

here for you. But we also want to be kept informed of any future 

plans that Delta may have; and I know you cannot let us in on everything that you are doing, but you have been very kind with the 

workout plan and with other things that you have kept us informed 

about. 

So I am just asking you to keep us informed, to keep the family 

informed. We want you to stay home. 

Mr. ANDERSON. You know, I could not agree with you more. We 

will keep you informed. You know, it is a great airline with a great 

legacy that goes back to Monroe, Louisiana——

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Absolutely. 

Mr. ANDERSON. —in 1926, and that is a really important part of 

what Delta is. 

So you can count on us to continue to do what is in the best interest of the employees at Delta and of the shareholders at Delta 

and of the communities we serve. So thank you. 

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Thank you very much. 

Mr. Chairman, again, I apologize for being late, but I appreciate 

your giving me the opportunity to ask a question. 

Mr. COSTELLO. The Chair thanks the gentleman and now recognizes the gentlelady from California, Ms. Richardson. 

Ms. RICHARDSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I have three questions for the panelists today. Let me preface my 

thoughts by saying I am the new member of the group. I got sworn 

in all of about 9 weeks ago, so I fought to get on this Committee, 

and I am happy to be with you today. 

My first question is having to do with—in local government, we 

have a system called a ′′reverse 911 system.′′ What that essentially 

does is—you have heard several questions from Members here, asking you what can members of the public do to be better prepared 

to process through the system; yet, I did not hear much discussion 

on your end of what you could do. And it is a little difficult because 

we have to assume in my community, for example, that not everyone has a computer, that not everyone has the Internet, and so repeatedly hearing the answer, ′′Well, check the Internet and check 

this and that.′′

I wanted to ask you: Sometimes when I have made flight arrangements through a travel agent, they do ask me ′′What is your 

phone number?′′ I am just curious. Has there ever been a discussion about doing a more reverse system of putting out an automated or a robo-call saying, you know, your flight is going to be 

delayed 1 hour or whatever it is, or doing a reverse e-mail? 

What can you do to be proactive to inform the consumers of problems that might be occurring? 

Mr. ANDERSON. Delta actually has that system, and I should not 

have just referenced the Internet. 

We have 6,000 people in our reservations department that are 

available on a toll-free number to be able to answer questions 

about flight availability. Dave, at JetBlue, has the same thing, as 

35

do the carriers that Mr. Faberman represents here, so we have 

both Internet and telephonic availability. 

Secondly, we do have the ability—we call it the ′′AutoDialer′′—

where you can auto-dial out and send e-mails updating people on 

their flights. So those systems are in place. 

Ms. RICHARDSON. Do you use them? 

Mr. ANDERSON. Absolutely, because you have got to have them 

available for schedule changes and irregular operations, because 

we do not want people to come to the airport if a flight is cancelled, 

and the earlier we can plan in advance of an irregular operation 

and let the passengers know and get them reaccommodated, the 

quicker we will be able to recover in a weather incident. 

Ms. RICHARDSON. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask, can we determine if all of the airlines have this sort of system and if they 

are utilizing it? 

Mr. COSTELLO. I did not hear the gentlelady. 

Ms. RICHARDSON. The systems that I am talking about, he called 

it ′′automatic redial.′′ I call it kind of a ′′reverse 911.′′ I am just curious if all of our American carriers, flag-carrying carriers, have 

this sort of system and are they utilizing it. 

Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Anderson, can you answer that? 

Mr. ANDERSON. As a general rule, all of the major carriers have 

auto-dialers, which is an outbound calling system or an e-mail system that lets flyers know about changes in their flight plans. 

Ms. RICHARDSON. With all due respect, Mr. Anderson, my second 

question was, though, Do you use it? 

Mr. ANDERSON. Yes. Yes. 

Ms. RICHARDSON. The reason why I ask the question about your 

understanding of all of the carriers is that I fly quite a lot, and 

members of my family fly quite a lot, and I recall very rarely getting notification. So that is why I am asking, can we verify it, in 

fact. 

Just because carriers have the system, it does not mean that 

they are using it. 

Mr. ANDERSON. I cannot speak on behalf of other carriers. I can 

speak on behalf of Delta, and we use it. 

Ms. RICHARDSON. Okay. 

So, Mr. Chairman, what would be the process of getting that information to this Committee from the other carriers? 

Mr. COSTELLO. We will check with the ATA to, in fact, have them 

survey the airlines——

Ms. RICHARDSON. Okay. 

Mr. COSTELLO. —to get an answer. 

Ms. RICHARDSON. My second question is having to do with—Mr. 

Anderson, it really caught my eye when someone asked the question about the TSA, and you were very specific in saying that, you 

know, the TSA does not report to you, which I clearly agree with 

and understand. 

Is there any ongoing meeting or position that carriers have with 

TSA to discuss what is happening—what is happening with the 

loads at various airports when they have delays? Because you 

seemed a little bit frustrated, and I know I am and many consumers are as well. 

36

I was traveling in the LAX area, and a person noted to me that 

several of the TSA members were being laid off, leading up to 

Christmas. I was shocked given, one, how long we wait and, two, 

given the incoming traffic that will be occurring. 

So are you regularly advised on what is happening in these various airports? Is there an ongoing process or group or advisory committee that you are able to participate with about these issues? 

Mr. ANDERSON. I believe the ATA has a security committee that 

works on behalf of the industry. 

At the local level, there is generally a very close working relationship between the Federal security director at an airport and 

the airlines operating in the airport, you know, providing information about what load factors will be by the time of day and what 

the TSA can expect in terms of passenger volume. 

Ms. BART. I would certainly like to add that my colleagues make 

a point of having regular—and I mean at least weekly meetings—

that include the TSA and the local airline managers from an operational standpoint. 

As we get closer to any major event like a holiday or other event 

where we would see a tremendous influx of passengers, it would be 

a standard operating procedure to call special meetings to discuss 

loads that are anticipated, any issues—weather contingencies, 

parking contingencies, things of that nature. 

So that has become standard protocol from the airport side to orchestrate those meetings. 

Mr. PRINCIPATO. There are also regular conference calls that TSA 

has with airports on an ongoing basis as well. 

Ms. RICHARDSON. Given some of the problems we talked about 

today, are any of you aware of layoffs happening within the TSA 

organization? 

Ms. BART. I am not. I have not heard of anything to that effect. 

Ms. RICHARDSON. Okay. 

Mr. Chairman, could I have 1 more minute? 

Mr. COSTELLO. Sure, the gentlelady can have another minute. 

Ms. RICHARDSON. Thank you, sir. 

One last question and then just a comment on behalf of JetBlue. 

My last question is: I recently was flying, and I noticed that if 

I am scheduled on a flight, let us say, at 5:00 o’clock and that flight 

is delayed and at 6:00 o’clock another flight is going out to the 

exact same destination, my flight is delayed like an hour or two. 

The people who were on the original flight at 5:00 are not the first 

ones who are able to go onto the 6:00. They have to wait from 6:00 

to 7:00, to 8:00, to 9:00. They could end up waiting through two 

and three flights if those other flights are booked. 

Excuse my ignorance, but is there not a process to deal with that 

particular passenger who ends up continually getting bumped even 

though there are other available flights? 

Mr. BARGER. If I may, Congresswoman, from a JetBlue perspective—and you raise a very good point. 

Ms. RICHARDSON. It was not on JetBlue, by the way. 

Mr. BARGER. Thank you. You raise a good point, though, and we 

struggle as an industry, and we struggle as a carrier. 

When you have an operational issue on one plane, do you domino 

that into many other flights when, even though the customer at 

37

5:00 is wanting to fly to Oakland from Long Beach and is wanting 

to get on the 6:00, there is not a problem with the 6:00 flight? 

So maybe the Members of the Committee may not like the answer, but we tend to inconvenience that group, that single group 

of customers, as opposed to domino it to several other groups. It 

seems like the best, if not a good, answer, but it really is just to 

contain that level of inconvenience to one flight. 

If I may also, I will just echo Richard’s comments. We are using 

auto-dialing, and I think we are newer to the game than others because we had to learn some of the lessons to communicate with our 

customers from the February time frame through the use of technology, so I just wanted to acknowledge that. 

If I may, Mr. Chairman, just in the closing of my comments, I 

would also like to take the opportunity to recognize Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald. We certainly appreciated her 

support down in Long Beach, and we look forward to working with 

you in the future. 

Ms. RICHARDSON. Likewise. 

Mr. Chairman, my other question would be building upon this 

question here, what possible regulation we might be involved with 

to deal with that issue, because when you are in an airport and you 

continue to be bumped for three and four flights, it just seems, if 

for the airlines it is more profitable or beneficial in their minds to 

only have those 100 or 200 customers who are not happy, instead 

of 500, that it may not necessarily be what our constituents would 

prefer. 

Finally, coming from Long Beach, I wanted to give you a special 

plug. I heard several people talk about, you know, the chaos and 

the problems of what JetBlue, unfortunately, experienced—and 

what other airlines experienced, I want to fairly say—last year. 

Some people are not aware of the recent awards that you won, despite all of that, for being one of the best airlines in terms of timing 

and service to your constituents. So thank you, and that is my plug 

for being from the 37th. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. COSTELLO. I am sure that Mr. Barger appreciates how you 

ended your comments and your time. 

Mr. BARGER. Yes, thank you. 

Mr. COSTELLO. The Chair thanks the gentlelady. 

Let me say that we again thank our witnesses for being here, 

and we appreciate your thoughtful testimony. We appreciate the 

fact that you are taking action to prepare for the holiday season. 

As I have said before, one of our responsibilities in this Subcommittee is to provide oversight, to make certain that the FAA 

and other Federal agencies are doing their jobs; and we have a responsibility to make certain that the airlines and the consumers 

are working together and that the consumers are treated fairly. 

We will examine the holiday season when we are in 2008, and 

hopefully, we can come back at some point after the first of the 

year and get a good report from you and from others in the industry. 

There being no further business before the Subcommittee, the 

Subcommittee stands adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 12:44 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]

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