Tulsa World: Rights for fliers gaining in bills

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Rights for fliers gaining in bills
Passenger advocates may have the upper hand on airlines.

By D.R. STEWART World Staff Writer
Published: 9/17/2009 2:30 AM
Last Modified: 9/17/2009 4:19 AM

Airline passenger rights legislation may be gaining momentum in Congress despite industry opposition, business and travel organizations say.

Now working its way through Congress as part of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009, the passenger rights provisions would establish minimum passenger standards for food, fresh air and water, comfortable cabin temperatures and rest room facilities on delayed or diverted flights.

The Business Travel Coalition, a 15-year-old Radnor, Pa.-based organization advocating greater transparency in transportation issues, last week joined with the California group that founded the passenger rights movement to urge congressional action.

"BTC testified four times since 1999 in opposition to congressional intervention, and opposed the New York State Passenger Bill of Rights that would have led to disparate passenger rights standards in every state," BTC Chairman Kevin Mitchell said. "So-called federal preemption was emplaced long ago to prevent a patchwork of oversight regulations.

"However, airlines can no longer have it both ways; consumers continue to be harmed and are without protections at the state level. As such, the only remaining remedy is a single passenger-rights standard emplaced by a Congress that needs to do for passengers what the airlines have refused to do."

Airline industry spokesmen say legislation could cause more problems than it solves.

"It's very easy for Congress to say, 'Do this,' " said David Castelveter, spokesman for the Air Transport Association, which represents the nation's major airlines. "It's very easy for consumer advocates to opine we should have a law. But nobody wants to recognize there would be unintended consequences.

"If an airplane has to go back to the gate, it's very likely an airline crew will reach their maximum number of (on-duty) hours they are required to fly by law, and so the airline will be forced to cancel that flight."

It is unclear what form the proposed passenger rights legislation may take.

The House version of the bill, H.R. 915, establishes general standards of passenger comfort the airlines must provide during tarmac delays.

The Senate legislation, S. 1451, goes further. It includes an option for passengers to disembark the aircraft after three hours of onboard delay on U.S. flights should the captain decide it is reasonable and safe to leave the plane or return to the gate.

For Terry Trippler, an airline industry consultant in Minneapolis and founder of Trippler & Associates, passenger rights legislation would be a nightmare.

"Your plane has been away from the gate for three hours and you are still on the ground due to weather and ground traffic," Trippler said. "The new legislation would require that if your captain does not believe you will take off within 30 minutes, all passengers must be given the option of getting off the plane.

"Suppose 75 people, including you, want off the plane and a gate is not available. Are you going to blindly get off that plane — not knowing what awaits you in the terminal? In that case, imagine how long it will take to address the possible alternatives for 75 people.

"Suppose by now the plane is ready to take off in 20 minutes? Is everyone going to change his or her minds now and stay on the plane? A recipe for air rage — one passenger against another?"

For business travelers, the six-hour tarmac delay endured by passengers on Continental Express Flight 2816 last month at Rochester International Airport in Minnesota was the tipping point in the rights debate.

The Continental Express flight was headed to Minneapolis from Houston and was diverted to Rochester because of thunderstorms. For six hours, 49 passengers on the 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145 were not permitted to leave the plane while having to endure the wait with no food, few blankets or pillows and a non-working toilet, according to passengers.

Before the Continental flight, business travel groups and travel agency organizations tended to side with the airlines, which oppose legislation aimed at requiring carriers to adhere to fixed passenger comfort standards during tarmac delays.

The American Society of Travel Agents "has reversed their position, and it doesn't surprise me," said Alex Eaton, president of World Travel Service in Tulsa, the state's largest travel agency, 85 percent of whose clients are business travelers. "The airlines have had time to police themselves and put some standards and norms in place, and they haven't. We're certainly not seeing any resolution of it."

Eaton said his business travel clients talk to him regularly on their cell phones about the problems of tarmac delays.

"They're conducting business or calling us (asking), 'What can you see and why are we stuck?' " Eaton said. "But there is not much we can do."

Two views of passenger rights legislation:

“I believe that enough compromises have been made to reach the current point of the passenger Bill of rights language currently included in the Senate FAA reauthorization bill. the items currently included are reasonable for the benefit and safety of airline passengers.” — Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla.

“At this point, i’d be more inclined to support the provisions in the Senate bill, which establish a time limit on how long passengers are forced to remain on the aircraft during flight delays. however, it remains to be seen what the passenger bill of rights language in the final FAA reauthorization bill will look like.” — Rep. John Sullivan, R-Okla.

— Statements released by Inhofe’s and Sullivan’s offices Wednesday.

D.R. Stewart 581-8451
don.stewart@tulsaworld.com By D.R. STEWART World Staff Writer

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	Report Comment Mike S, Tulsa (9/17/2009 3:51:15 PM) But don't forget that most of the problem in the recent Continental Express problem was caused by the airport and another airline's personnel. What's being included to mandate those parties cooperate w/ the airline requesting assistance to return passengers to a gate???
	Report Comment 2curious, Tulsa, OK 74104 (9/18/2009 1:35:16 AM) Mike - you're dead on the money with this comment. This is systemic...it's not just those who are in operation of the airplane once it's left the gate.
	Report Comment justiceawaits, Claremore (9/18/2009 4:41:55 AM) This is way overdue. I glad to see congress and the senate has taken a little time away from their bickering and grandstanding to actually try to accomplish something worthwhile.

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