Frustrated Air Travelers May Get ‘Bill of Rights’

Eyeing delays, cancellations, lost bags and dozens of petty inconveniences that have turned air travel into a cattle-lot experience, the Clinton administration and powerful Republican lawmakers are vowing to enact a passenger “bill of rights” this year.

At odds on the particulars but in lock-step on the political attractiveness of the idea, Washington is contemplating “rights” such as increased compensation for passengers who get bumped from flights or whose luggage is lost, and requirements that airlines tell the truth about delays and give customers refunds within 48 hours of buying a ticket.

There’s even one proposal--due to a complaint from Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) that an airline failed to help his wife, Betsi, find her lost day planner--requiring airlines to make a “good faith” effort to return belongings that have someone’s name on them.

Complaints are on the increase. The Transportation Department received 9,606 complaints about airline service last year, a 25% increase from the 7,667 complaints in 1997. The number of complaints has risen for three years in a row, but it is still far below the peak of nearly 45,000 in 1987.

One incident that has sparked consumer anger was the story--now saga--of the Jan. 2-3 blizzard in Detroit, in which hundreds of Northwest Airlines passengers were stranded for hours in parked planes as toilets overflowed, hungry babies bawled, chronically ill people went without medication and crew members eyed their customers as potential mutineers.

Northwest says the Detroit debacle was a calamity that could not have been prevented, and it’s unfair to judge the carrier or industry by what happened.

At a hearing Wednesday before the House Transportation Committee, anger was not limited to well-publicized incidents. Travelers told of delays, rudeness and arrogant acts by several airlines. A weeping mother alleged that her 6-year-old son was placed in a hotel room with a sexually abusive teenager while traveling as an unaccompanied minor.

Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) blamed the problem on industry profits.

“As industry profits soar, so do the number of complaints,” he said. “The airlines . . . need to start treating their passengers like human beings.”

There is no opposition to some of the reforms being considered by Congress, such as requiring accurate information about delays and cancellations.

But airlines are adamantly against provisions in the congressional bills that would allow consumers to circumvent restrictions on the use of discount round-trip and multi-city tickets. In a private estimate, one carrier concluded that these changes would lead to an across-the-board fare increase of about 7%. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater calls such measures “too punitive.”

“We are certainly willing to work with the White House and Congress,” said David Fuscus, a spokesman for the Air Transport Assn. “If something is done, we want to make sure there aren’t unintended consequences.”

Critics say the political rush to blame the airlines ignores the government’s own role in travelers’ frustration: The air transportation system is stretched to capacity partly because a trouble-plagued effort to modernize air traffic control has yet to bear fruit, although billions of dollars have been spent.

“The system is maxed out at any given time,” said Darryl Jenkins, a professor at George Washington University here. “Any time anything goes wrong, the whole system backs up.”

And it probably will only get worse.

Domestic airlines move more than 600 million passengers a year, and that number is expected to approach 1 billion in the next decade, straining the current system.

For years, modernizing the air traffic control system--and expanding airport construction--have been seen as keys to coping with millions of additional passengers.

Under a new air traffic control system, pilots would be able to pick their own routes with the aid of navigation satellites instead of flying current paths that follow the location of ground-based radars.

That would increase the number of planes that could be in the air. But to manage this aerial choreography, new generations of air traffic computers and software are needed.

In 1981, the Federal Aviation Administration began an ambitious modernization program, expected to cost $42 billion through 2004. But the effort is on Congress’ list of “high-risk” government programs.

“The modernization program has experienced cost overruns, schedule delays and performance shortfalls of large proportions,” the congressional General Accounting Office reported earlier this year.

Congress will address the issue later this year. Shuster wants to take the FAA out of the Transportation Department and set it up as an independent agency modeled on NASA, with the goal of building a new air traffic control system. The White House says that goes too far.

In the meantime, members of Congress seem determined to send the airlines a message. Shuster’s Senate counterpart, Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), has introduced a passenger rights bill with Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon.

A House Transportation Committee aide predicted a strong bill will pass. “The planets are in alignment,” he said.

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Airline Passenger Rights

Here’s a look at some differences and similarities in the three leading proposals to improve airline service to travelers:

Clinton administration

Would double minimum payment for lost baggage to $2,500; double maximum compensation for being bumped from a flight to $800; require airlines to disclose “code-sharing,” a common arrangement under which a passenger buys a ticket from one carrier but ends up flying on another carrier’s plane; require airlines to tell customers whether they must change planes during a trip; require airlines to designate an ombudsman for complaints.

Rep. Bud Shuster (R-Pa.)

Would require airlines to disclose “code-sharing” and flights that require a change of planes; require disclosure of accurate information on delays, cancellations and diversions to other airports; prevent airlines from forbidding “back-to-back” ticketing, in which a passenger buys two discounted round-trip tickets and uses portions of them to get around airline rules requiring a Saturday stay-over; prevent airlines from forbidding “hidden city” ticketing, in which a passenger buys a discounted ticket to the last stop on a multi-city flight but disembarks sooner, at a destination where the airline would have charged more; require government investigation on whether airlines are adequately supervising unaccompanied children.

Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)

Would require airlines to disclose when a flight is oversold; prevent airlines from forbidding “back-to-back” ticketing and “hidden city” ticketing; require airlines to provide accurate information about cancellations and delays; require airlines to disclose how many seats are set aside for frequent fliers, making it easier for consumers to compare frequent-flier programs.