Should air travelers have a passenger bill of rights?

The year 1999 did not begin well for Northwest Airlines. Less than 48 hours after the arrival of the New Year, a major blizzard struck Northwest’s largest hub, Detroit-Wayne County Metropolitan Airport.

Snowstorms are not a rare occurrence in Detroit, but this one was a humdinger. The storm moved in so fast and with such ferocity that the airport’s snow removal crews could not even get started clearing the runways and tarmacs. Northwest’s gates in five terminals were still snowbound 24 hours after the storm.

The worst part, however, was the impact on Northwest’s passengers. Some 3,200 people were trapped aboard planes on the airport’s aprons and taxiways for four hours or more, many for more than eight hours. Food and water supplies ran out.
Lavatories stopped operating as their holding tanks filled.  

The outcry from the traveling public was loud and immediate. Calls went up for federal legislation spelling out a “bill of rights” for airline passengers.

The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Aviation held two hearings in March 1999 and heard testimony from passengers, the airlines and consumer groups. We decided at that time that the airlines made a compelling case for self-regulation.

The airlines responded with a 12-point “Airline Customer Service Commitment” addressing delays as well as other issues, such as lost baggage and low fares.

In June 2001, the inspector general of the Department of Transportation (DOT) reported that the airlines were making progress toward internal implementation of the commitment. Then came Sept. 11, 2001, and security and the airlines’ financial hardships pushed consumer issues to the side.

But passenger-rights issues leaped to the forefront once again this past winter. On Dec. 29, 2006, thunderstorms at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the home hub of American Airlines, forced 121 flights to be diverted to other airports. DFW was closed down for nine hours.

Like the Detroit blizzard, the Dallas-Fort Worth storms stranded thousands of passengers in planes that had nowhere to go. More than 4,100 people were trapped for more than three hours, many of them for more than eight.

Six weeks later, Jet Blue miscalculated the duration of an ice storm at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Nine planes were stuck on the tarmac for over five hours, one for more than 10.

What happened to the airlines’ commitment to implement internal quality-assurance and performance-measurement systems after the 1999 Detroit experience? The DOT inspector general issued a progress report last fall, and testified at the hearing that the implementation has been uneven across the airline industry. It should be noted that Jet Blue, which had not yet begun flying when the airlines’ commitment was first drafted, has issued its own passenger bill of rights.

On April 20, the Subcommittee on Aviation again took up the issue of passenger rights.

I do not believe that we should legislate specific customer-service provisions. However, I do believe that the airlines should be held accountable for their customer-service policies.

One way to ensure accountability is to make certain that the DOT has the authority and resources necessary to investigate passenger complaints and levy fines against the airlines when necessary.

Improving communication to the consumer is also a critical step. All too often passengers are either not informed or inadequately informed about delays, or the reasons for delays, cancellations and diversions.

Good customer relations would dictate full and adequate disclosure of pending delays and cancellations, as well as of the steps that will be taken to accommodate passengers when excessive delays occur. Development of plans and procedures for accommodating passengers in such situations, including disseminating critical information, should be a top priority for each airline.

The airlines must also provide consumers with the ability to access information easily. Passengers need to have a clear forum for their complaints, and the airlines should publicize these complaint statistics and delays so consumers can make informed decisions about the carrier and flights they travel on. Congress should not have to force airlines’ compliance with simple customer-relations initiatives — but we will if we have to.

The airlines use our nation’s public airspace and facilities. We entrust our lives to them and use their services. In return, there should be a level of accountability to comply with their customer-service commitments.

Oberstar is the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

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