Consumers get stuck on the tarmac, have their flights rerouted - it's ridiculous.
As the summer travel season gets under way, the US Senate is expected to take up the Airline Customer Service Improvement Act. It would codify many of the airlines' pledges to do better in reducing delays, notifying passengers about problems, and handling baggage - promises made two years ago in an effort to head off similar federal legislation. Either way, the bill's imminent arrival on the Senate floor points up the public's increasing frustration with both the airlines and the government's inability to make a trip to Grandma's as reliable and hassle-free as possible. The airlines basically ignored the customers for the last two years. The airlines insist they have been working to improve flying conditions.