As much as passengers seek cheap fares, whether they are cheap airplane tickets or cheap vacation packages, once purchased their interests often turn to passenger rights when faced with what they consider to be unfair airline practices. Given new and pending congressional legislation and Department of Transportation (DOT) rules, 2010, may well be remembered as the year when passengers rights were finally recognized as a necessity.
Airline passengers have complained in the past about sitting for hours on end upon runways waiting to take off in hot airplane cabins without food, water, or adequate lavatory facilities. Passengers had to deal with lost luggage, denied boarding on oversold flights and flight cancellations with no reasonable compensation, re-accommodation or even an explanation or apology. Airlines seemingly endless array of fees for checked luggage, seat selection, pillows, blankets, telephone reservations and more have further upset fliers.
The tide may now start turning in passengers favor. The DOT implemented a rule in April to motivate airlines to cap runway delays at no more than three hours. Included in this rule is the requirement that airlines provide food and water within two hours of a runway delay. Also, new regulations were issued requiring airlines to disclose and reduce habitually delayed flights and respond more quickly to consumer complaints.
Additional pending legislation and new DOT rules may expand customer protections before the end of 2010:
A new senate bill would require airlines to disclose all fees at point of sale so that travelers would not later be surprised with the total cost of flying.
Included in this bill is a provision to charge a 7.5% excise fee, currently being applied only to the base ticket price, to all fees. Some experts claim that airlines will roll ancillary fees back into the base ticket price once fees are taxed.
A bill in Congress would improve passenger runway rights by not making passengers wait even the current 2 hours to have access to water, food, and working toilets when stuck on a runway.
A pending DOT rule would substantially increase compensation paid to passengers who are involuntarily bumped off flights.
The DOT is proposing giving passengers the right to cancel their purchase within the first 24 hours without penalty on non-refundable tickets.
DOT also wants airlines to notify passengers of flight changes in a more timely manner.
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