Airline rules benefitting travelers with short delays
Published 9:54 am Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Although still in their infancy, U.S. Transportation Department rules that penalize airlines for leaving passengers cooped up in grounded planes for hours on end appear to be working like a charm.
Statistics for July … showed that only three flights subjected passengers to delays on the tarmac of more than three hours, compared with 161 flights delayed three hours or longer in the same month last year. In May and June, the other two months the new rules have been in effect, tarmac delays of more than three hours occurred on only four flights, vs. 302 flights in the same two-month period last year …
Airlines’ failure to comply with the rules can bring fines of up to $27,500 for each passenger ….
Year after year, airline companies have said lengthy delays on the tarmac from time to time are inevitable.
… In recent years, horror stories of planes awaiting takeoff for three and more hours, as food ran out and toilets overflowed, made national news.
Airlines complained that the new anti-delay rules would lead to a huge increase in canceled flights and a scheduling nightmare. A small uptick in canceled flights occurred over the three-month period, mostly in May, so this argument appears unfounded.
Considering the vagaries of the weather, a whole year of statistical comparisons will be necessary before the new rules can be pronounced a resounding success. But, so far, so good.
The Columbus Dispatch