Skies get a little friendlier
FILE - In this Feb. 20, 2007 file photo, Carolann Manfredi, of Princeton, N.J., searches through luggage for a bag she says has been missing for five days, at the Philadelphia International Airport. The Department of Transportation is proposing a new rule, in 2011, requiring automatic refunds for delayed luggage. The major airlines, which are collecting more than $3.3 billion in bag fees a year, are opposed. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, file) Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke
The skies have been pretty scary lately. Apparently, ensuring Michelle Obama's plane lands without drama and keeping controllers conscious are more than the folks who regulate air travel can manage. But they got one right yesterday when they tightened the reins on airline fees for things like checked bags, meals and changing a reservation -- those annoying add-ons that the flying public has come to know and hate.
The Department of Transportation's new rules won't make the ever-mounting fees go away. They won't even limit how much airlines can charge for things we once blithely took for granted -- think blankets or seat selection -- as included in the price of a ticket. But beginning in August, airlines will be required to refund the checked-bag fee if they lose your luggage, instead of forcing you to try to get the money back, along with compensation for lost possessions, in an insurance claim. They'll have to advertise the true cost of a flight -- fees and taxes included -- which will allow real comparison shopping. They'll have to pay you more when you're bumped off an oversold flight. And they won't be allowed to hold passengers on international flights captive in a plane on the ground for more than four hours. (Three hours is already the limit for domestic travelers.)
None of that will make air travel the deluxe experience it once was. Those days are long gone. Think buses in the sky and you'll be in the proper frame of mind for today's flights. Making air travel affordable to almost anyone is a fine thing, but there's no reason for passenger abuse by the airlines. The new rules will soothe some of the irritations layered on lately that benefit the airlines' bottom lines but leave customers feeling used.
The Air Transport Association of America, the airlines trade association, will tell you the industry posted its lowest rate of mishandled bags last year since record-keeping began. It'll say that the number of people involuntarily bumped off oversold flights in 2010 was the lowest since 2006. And all those add-on fees, for bags and meals and such, allow customers to pay, a la carte, just for the products and services they want. That's all well and good.
But what about refunding that $15 or $35 checked-bag fee when a bag reaches its destination days behind the passenger? Delayed is almost as bad as lost if you're forced to buy all new stuff while away from home. Or, as was the case for Mets pitcher Dillon Gee, you're forced to scrounge clothes and equipment for your shot in the big leagues.
Gee was called up from a farm team in Buffalo and joined the ballclub in Atlanta last Sunday. His bags were MIA, so he pitched 5 2/3 innings in a borrowed glove and spikes (the Mets won, ending a seven-game losing streak), and then flew back to New York in a borrowed suit. The DOT should make carriers at least reimburse the checked-bag fee for that sort of inconvenience, even if they eventually find the bag. Unfortunately the new rules won't do that.
But they will require full disclosure of hidden fees, which one carrier said was like forcing McDonald's to advertise burgers including the price of fries and a drink. Actually the airlines' current system is more like advertising a price for a burger and then charging extra if you want a bun. What the DOT did is require fair treatment for air travelers. Now if they can just keep the first lady's plane out of the turbulent wake of other aircraft. hN
