Vacations Delivered

Cited: USA Today

The Department of Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, has been the most active secretary in the past 2 decades.  He has been proposing and imposing new committee and regulations for safety and protection on US airlines.  In fact, he is a supporter of airline passenger rights to facilities, food and water during lengthy on-aircraft delays.

In May 2010, he named the 19 members of the new Future of Aviation Advisory Committee, headed by DOT official Susan Kurland.

The DOT announcement on the FAAC stated that the panel is “to provide information, advice, and recommendations to the Secretary on ensuring the competitiveness of the U.S. aviation industry and its capability to address the evolving transportation needs, challenges and opportunities of the U.S. and global economy.”

“Aviation is essential to our nation’s economy and our ability to compete in international commerce,” LaHood said. “This committee, which represents a broad cross-section of the aviation community, will begin the important conversation about how to ensure the industry remains vital and competitive.”

The committee will meet at least four times this year before presenting findings to the secretary.

LaHood listed five goals the committee should address:

• Ensuring aviation safety
• Ensuring a world-class aviation workforce
• Balancing the industry’s competitiveness and viability
• Securing stable funding for aviation systems
• Addressing environmental challenges and solutions

Below are some of the new regulations is proposing and imposing:

Imposed regulations

•A three-hour limit on how long passengers may be kept aboard an aircraft during a ground delay. Airlines can be fined up to $27,500 per passenger for exceeding that limit. The regulation covers only the domestic flights of US airlines.

Proposed regulations

•Increasing the maximum compensation for passengers involuntarily denied boarding or “bumped” from oversold flights.

FLIGHT RULES: Airlines grapple with increased regulatory focus

• •Extending the three-hour ground delay rule to include the international flights of both US carriers and foreign carriers operating at US airports.
• •Allowing passengers to cancel a reservation within 24 hours of making it without financial penalty.
• •Prohibiting the advertisement of round-trip fares on a one-way price basis and placing strict requirements on how airlines can advertise “each way” prices on fares that actually require a round-trip purchase. Advertised prices would have to include taxes and fees.
• •Prohibiting price increases on already-purchased tickets.
• •Requiring airlines to provide ticketed passengers with prompt notice of any changes in the status of their flights.

Fines issued

• •American: A record $24.2 million for operating 280 jets for thousands of hours in 2008 with improperly bundled wiring harnesses in the front wheel wells. More than 300,000 travelers’ flights were canceled over several days. American is fighting the fine.
• •Southwest: $10.2 million for failing to conduct proper checks for cracks in certain Boeing 737s in 2007 following an emergency directive from the FAA.
• •Executive Airlines (American Eagle in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean): $700,000 for failing to document required visual inspections for possible cracks on eight aircraft.
• •AirTran: $500,000 for violations of the Air Carrier Access Act requiring carriers to provide assistance in boarding and deplaning to disabled passengers.
• •Southwest: $200,000 for violating federal rules on bumping passengers off oversold flights.
• •Continental and Express Jet (Continental Express): $100,000 for failing to care properly for passengers held six hours on a Continental Express flight diverted to Rochester, Minn., when storms closed the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, the flight’s destination.
• •Continental: Fined for filing incomplete reports with the DOT concerning the number of complaints the Kerry received from passengers with disability was $100,000

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My Take: With the money they may, they can afford to pay these fines.  May need to increase them so that these people get the idea they can get away with anything.  I know the airline industry has problems, but they should pay more for making mistakes because they have thousands of people’s lives in their hands.

You always hear about air traffic controllers and how much stress they are under and how many West Palm Beach divorce lawyer they hire.  But the airline can’t function without making these kinds of mistakes; they will need their own West Palm Beach FL personal injury attorneys because of the people getting hurt because of their errors.

They may have fireproof cabinets in their work areas and offices, but that doesn’t mean you’re being safe.  They may even have the proper safety cabinet in their luggage area, but they still need the same in other areas as well.  Maybe they should get survey software and take a survey of the people who buy their airline.  I know they can purchase excellent online survey tools online that would help them keep their customers happy.

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Other Resources

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