EVALUATING PASSENGERS' NEW ` RIGHTS'

12-05-1999

If you'll be traveling on an airplane over the coming holidays, pay attention to how you're being treated.

On Dec. 15, the 14 member airlines of the Air Transport Association will implement their 12-point plan to improve passenger service. 

The ATA, which includes major domestic carriers such as American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, Southwest, TWA, United and US Airways, announced the commitment programs in August in an attempt to stave off looming congressional response to consumer complaints that have been flooding federal aviation watchdogs over the past two years.

Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., had previously introduced an Omnibus Airline Passenger Fair Treatment Act, and transportation maven Rep. Bud Shuster, R-Pa., sponsored a House bill incorporating many of the same provisions. These bills have been put into a holding pattern while legislators monitor how airlines address these issues without legislation. 

The airlines have pledged to tell prospective passengers about the lowest available fares when they book flights. They'll allow passengers at least 24 hours to decide if they want to purchase that ticket at the quoted rate or, alternately, let them cancel a ticket at no charge within 24 hours of purchase. When passengers are due a refund, the airlines will make them within seven days if the ticket was purchased with a credit card, 20 days if purchased with cash.

Other guidelines are intended to provide passengers with better information to make purchase decisions. For example, each carrier will now publish clear guidelines that address such issues as bumping passengers from overbooked flights or notifying them at the time of booking when a flight involves a change of planes. They'll publish rules regarding their decision process on how many seats are available on any flight for frequentflier freebies, as well as an annual redemption report.

The carriers will clearly lay out their rules and penalties regarding ticketing loopholes such as hidden cities and back-to-back itineraries.  The carriers also promise to provide "timely" notification of known flight cancellations, delays, and diversions to other airports. They say they'll improve on-time baggage delivery and support increases in their luggage liability limits, which now stand at just $1,250 per passenger for domestic flights and $640 for international departures. While not agreeing to actually provide better service for disabled and special-needs passengers, such as unaccompanied children, at least airlines will disclose their policies and procedures for doing so.

They also say they'll do a better job of seeing to the needs of passengers who are trapped for long periods on planes stuck on runways, in deference to the airport horror stories that swirled out of the snowstorms of last New Year's weekend.  These U.S. airlines also will try to ensure that passengers will experience similar service standards when they fly on all codesharing partners. 

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the 14 airlines promise to respond more quickly to customer complaints. Previously, they were only required to react to complaints about violations of disability laws, and then only within 30 days of the complaint. Under the ATA guidelines, each carrier will take steps to ensure that all written complaints will be responded to within 60 days or less. 

Considering potential shortcomings of this 12-step program to customer service, it's easy to be skeptical about how much this new commitment will actually accomplish.  First, little of substance has actually changed. Most of these pledges amount to little more than a commitment to stick to or clarify previously accepted but substantially eroded standards of fair service and sales practice.

In more than one case, the new standards are even lower than existing mandated standards.  Furthermore, each airline is free to define its own fine-print interpretation to each guideline, and, the devil being in the details, variations in the specific policies and wording can make a big difference in how well they actually improve the overall experience of booking and taking trips. 

The most recent issue of Consumer Reports travel letter surveyed the eight major carriers, asked about how each interpreted the 12 Customer Service Commitments, and rated them on their answers against both each other and fairness standards developed by the magazine.  For example, in the matter of providing prospective passengers with the lowest available fares, only Southwest was rated excellent, for its policy of offering low fares that are sold on an unrestricted, fully refundable and transferable basis, with no advance purchase requirements.

Northwest, Delta and TWA will automatically offer lower fare alternatives, while American, Continental, United and, most importantly for local travelers, US Airways will do so only if the client specifically requests them to do so. 

US Airways did earn excellent or very good marks for its commitments to delay notifications, on-time baggage delivery, disabled passengers and customer complaints; fair marks for long delays, ticket refunds, baggage liability, reservations cancellations and bumping policies; and poor for ticketing rules and code-sharing consistencies.  One significant point for local flyers concerns US Airways' interpretation of the 24-hour purchase rule. Passengers who buy discounted, non-refundable tickets will now have 24 hours after they purchase the ticket to reconsider their decision. 

A big problem with these commitments as a whole is that they are entirely voluntary and lacking in meaningful methods of measurement or enforcement. For its part, the Department of Transportation says it plans to monitor compliance based on consumer complaints, but that will require input from vigilant and disgruntled passengers. 

More importantly, these commitments ignore a host of other ignominies passengers frequently face, from being cast into telephone limbo during interminable reservation conversations to indifferent personnel or being squeezed into smaller seats and served ever-diminishing food during their trips.

There are myriad small steps a more generous airline might willingly undertake to reinforce its commitment to putting the customer first.  US Airways is implementing a system-wide effort to inform its employees about these new commitments and, presumably, remind them that to a great extent, running an airline is a customer service business. Also presumably, those US Airways employees who have recently signed new labor agreements will be more enthusiastic about going to work. 

Let's also hope the Association of Flight Attendants, which represents 9,000 of the US Airways employees who most closely interact with the traveling public, can reach a settlement with the carrier without having to resort to a strike.

That would certainly be a severe setback for the cause of customer service. 

 It's hard to predict what differences there will be. PR rhetoric and congressional posturing aside, only time and travel will tell the truth of the airline's commitment to serve. The impending crush of holiday air traffic, the possibility of stormy weather and any lingering Y2K confusions will put the commitments to the test.  Be an educated consumer and discerning traveler.

If you experience service you feel was less than what you were entitled to, the DOT is anxious to catalog your complaint. The hotline number is 202366-2220. The e-mail address is airconsumer@ost.dot.gov. You can also mail complaints to Aviation Consumer Protection Division, U.S. Dept. of Transportation, C-75, Room 4107, Washington, DC 20590. 

And if you're pleasantly surprised by a high level of service or employees going out of their way to make your life easier, also let the DOT know. Positive reinforcement is a good carrot, and the possibility of federal regulation is a big stick.

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