Thursday, March 11, 1999
Fed-up customers rail against airlines
Congress considering 'bill of rights'
BY JIM ABRAMS
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Bolstered by passenger tales of alleged mistreatment by airline companies, the administration and Congress are moving to improve protections of air travelers' rights.
“We were the victims, and we were being shamed for not having the proper attitude,” Barbara Plecas of Walled Lake, Mich., told lawmakers Wednesday, recounting how she and fellow Northwest Airlines passengers — just arrived from Tampa, Fla. — were stuck on a Detroit Metropolitan Airport tarmac for seven hours during a snowstorm in January.
Another passenger, Patricia Shank of Frederick, Md., told the House Transportation Committee of being confined for nine hours in January on a Vir gin Atlantic plane that never took off from Washington's Dulles International Airport for London. When she declined another flight the next day, the airline refused to return her luggage, which was flown to London.
“We have struck a raw nerve here,” committee Chairman Bud Shuster, R-Pa., told a packed hearing room.
“I can't walk through the halls here without members and constituents telling me their horror stories.”
Mr. Shuster has introduced a bill — one of several “passenger bill of rights” measures now working their way through Congress — that would require airlines to compensate passengers kept waiting on a runway more than two hours, provide explanations for delays and cancellations, and give refunds for flights canceled for economic reasons, among other things.
Vice President Al Gore and Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, meanwhile, introduced Wednesday the administration's plan for legislative and regulatory action.
The administration's legislation would require airlines to:
• Disclose flight delay and cancellation policies.
• Provide food and restroom facilities during delays.
• Have evacuation procedures for extended delays and bumping.
• Provide notices on lower-priced ticket outlets.
In regulations that became effective Wednesday, airlines must inform passengers of code-sharing arrangements in which one airline books flights for another, and tell ticket buyers whether the flight involves changing planes.
Most of those testifying spoke of long delays and airlines' failures to keep them informed and comfortable.
Fed-up customers rail against airlines
Cintas is Ky. Speedway's first big sponsor
Bill introduces competition to electric industry
Former Mercantile workers begin to heal
Lottery's been good for Interlott in '98
Women's progress in business traced at awards ceremony
INDUSTRY NOTES: REAL ESTATE
COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
TRISTATE BUSINESS SUMMARY
TRISTATE MARKET SPOTLIGHT
