U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood no doubt learned much about behavior as a junior high school teacher in Illinois. Since taking over leadership of the Department of Transportation in January 2009, LaHood has made it a priority to seek better deportment from the airline industry in dealing with what should be basic consumer rights.
It's unfortunate that a federal agency must step into the private sector at such a micro level, but too often airlines have revealed a stunning inability to treat paying customers fairly. Responding to consumer complaints, DOT this week announced proposals aimed at protecting passengers from onerous cancellation practices, oversold flights, hidden fees and hours of captivity in planes on tarmacs.
Tarmac imprisonment often gets the most headlines, and this spring DOT implemented new rules that call for large fines for airlines that keep planes on taxiways for more than three hours for domestic flights and four hours for overseas flights. The tarmac rules proposed this week would cover foreign airlines and include more smaller airports.
The proposed regulations would increase compensation for passengers involuntarily bumped from flights, require airlines to more prominently disclose baggage fees and other optional charges, and mandate refunds for passengers who pay fees for checked baggage that does not arrive on time. Most airlines already allow customers to cancel reservations within 24 hours of making them, but the new rules would require that policy. And the rules would mandate timely notice of flight changes and prohibit price hikes after a ticket is purchased.
Most of the proposed rules appear sensible, but by all accounts LaHood and DOT can do a much better job working with the industry to ensure that implementation does not come with unintended consequences that end up harming consumers in the long run. For example, airlines were making progress on the tarmac delay issue before the first round of DOT rules. Now carriers are more likely to cancel scheduled flights -- leaving consumers holding their bags -- if they think a tarmac issue might make them vulnerable to large fines.
There is a 60-day comment period on the proposals. LaHood and his staff would be wise to study feedback from consumers and the airlines.
