As Fuel Prices Rise Passenger Frustrations Take Off
Thursday, May 01, 2008PAUL KANGAS: Higher fuel prices are hitting the airlines hard and they're passing those fuel costs along to consumers. The price increases come at a time when the industry is already struggling with customer service issues. Congress is considering adopting a passenger bill of rights. As Stephanie Dhue reports, frequent fliers are frustrated.
STEPHANIE DHUE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Stress levels for passengers this summer are likely to take off. Delays, lost bags and cancellations have been common and now there are capacity cuts, fuel surcharges, fees to check a second bag and higher ticket prices. Frequent flyer Kurt Panter is feeling the squeeze.
KURT PANTER, TRAVELER: Changes that occurred over the last years have been really related to just how packed the airlines are, how packed the seats are.
DHUE: Some passengers, like Alan Kugi, are resigned to air travel being unpleasant.
ALAN KUGI, TRAVELER: I sort of had the worst expectations and things have pretty much lived up to what I expected.
DHUE: The frustration isn't new. After being stuck on a runway for hours in December of '06, Kate Hanni created the coalition for airline passengers' bill of rights. She's now part of a Federal task force on tarmac delays. Hanni says airlines should be forced to provide for people's basic needs when flights are delayed.
KATE HANNI, THE COALITION FOR AIRLINE PASSENGERS BILL OF RIGHTS: Food, water and freedom -- we thought those were unalienable rights and obviously that equilibrium was shattered a year and a half ago and people want to know that they have a specific time to get off of a plane.
DHUE: The airlines say they have improved their delay policies. Steve Lott of the International Air Transport Association says government mandates won't improve the situation.
STEVE LOTT, INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION: The last thing we want is Uncle Sam telling the airline industry how to operate their networks, how to operate their schedules. The other thing, too, is that each situation is different. We don't think there's a one-size-fits-all approach to this.
DHUE: The Department of Transportation has made changes, including doubling the amount airlines must pay to passengers who are bumped from oversold flights. It is also considering reducing slots at New York's congested LaGuardia airport and opening up additional airspace during bad weather. But the industry says those changes don't address the key problem of an outdated, over-extended air traffic control system.
LOTT: The air traffic control system is like highways in the sky and like in many big cities across the country, these highways were built many, many years ago and they've reached capacity.
DHUE: Lawmakers have proposed more money to modernize the FAA, but the funding has been delayed by the battle over how to pay for it. Stephanie Dhue, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Washington.
