Go to Details of Customer Service Proposal
From the Air Transport Association
H.B. 700: Passenger's Bill of Rights
One of the proposals Congress is considering
June 17, 1999
Under fire from Congress and thousands of disgruntled passengers, the
airline industry today announced a new plan promising customer service.
Airlines have been negotiating with the federal government for months,
and, to prevent new laws, they volunteered their own plan.
Passengers at Salt Lake International are tired of delays,
uneven ticket prices and cramped flights.
Passenger Joan Fischer told us, "Probably my biggest complaint is the lack
of space in seating."
Fellow passenger Jeff Ludlum says, "Sometimes it seems like they're more
concerned about timelines and efficiences and schedules, that way, rather than
what people need."
According to Ray Germany the worst things are, "Delayed flights and missing
your connection."
Michael Hall says, "I got my flight cancelled and I had to spent $800 to get
another flight out to Salt Lake."
Pressure for better service intensified last winter when passengers in
Detroit sat on a runway for up to ten hours during a storm.
And numerous bills generally called passengers' Bill of Rights are
working their ways through committees.
Gerald Greenwald, chairman of United Airlines, and the Air Transport
Association, says, "We heard the bell ring, we have felt the whip."
In an effort to stave off legislation, the airlines today presented their
own plan.
They pledge to:
- inform customers of the lowest fare available
- notify them of known delays
- provide prompt refunds
- meet customers' needs during long delays in the plane.
Many of these promises contained in the pledge are already airline policy.
And not all passengers think the government should interfere.
"The government coming in, making it mandatory to have so many people or so
many inches of knee room may be a benefit, but I'd like to see where it would
be with healthy competition," says Joann Fischer.
Jeff Ludlum says, "It makes business sense and it makes good kind of common
sense from a service standpoint. You want to take care of people that are
paying your bills."
It's too soon to tell whether the airlines' proposal is enough to keep
Congress from forcing government mandates.
