The Dept. of Transportation should
penalize airlines that consistently publish "unrealistic" flight
schedules, and airlines and the government need to do a better job
giving customers information about an individual flight's on-time
performance, the department's inspector general said in a report to
Congress.
The
recommendations came in a report evaluating how well airlines in
the U.S. have, or have not, kept some of the 12 voluntary Customer
Service Commitment pledges they made in 1999 to forestall
congressional passage of an airline consumer bill of rights. At the
time, congestion, delays and consumer complaints were
rampant.
The report,
requested by Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House
Aviation Subcommittee, praised the airlines for putting the
promises into their contracts of carriage and making some
improvements.
But the report
also criticized them for some shortfalls and backsliding on some
promises since the IG's last review in 2001. The report called for
an increase in denied-boarding compensation and more action by the
airlines or government to provide easily accessible,
airline-specific frequent-flyer redemption statistics, improved
flight delay information at airports and better training for
employees who assist passengers with special needs.
Responding to the
report, Air Transport Association spokesman David Castelveter said,
"We recognize in a number of categories there's room for
improvement; we're committed to making those improvements." He
added that airlines are "pleased" with their progress.
The DOT's
response noted that "both airlines and the department have room to
improve."
Bumping rules under review
The DOT said it
is "developing rules" regarding denied-boarding compensation, which
has had the same minimum payment since 1978. But the DOT did not
respond specifically to many other points, including the issue of
unrealistic scheduling.
The IG's office
said it raised that issue because airlines have not followed
through on an ATA promise, made in congressional testimony in 2001,
to set specific targets for reducing chronically late
flights.
The IG's office
said it identified 15,640 unique flight numbers that were
"chronically delayed or canceled" in 2005, which it defined as
flights that were delayed 30 minutes or more or canceled at least
40% of the time during a single month.
The DOT's most
recent Air Travel Consumer Report listed 99 flights that arrived
late 80% of the time or more in September. For most of them, the
median and average length of the delay exceeded 30
minutes.
The IG said the
DOT's Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings, charged with
enforcing the DOT's consumer-protection rules, could help by
enforcing a policy that declares "unrealistic scheduling" to be an
"unfair and deceptive practice and an unfair method of
competition."
Tough sell
But that could be
a tough sell. The industry beat back a "truth in scheduling"
proposal from a Ralph Nader advocacy group in 2000 and would likely
fight similar measures today.
Castelveter said
weather, congestion and outdated air-traffic-control systems are to
blame for most of the problems.
"Airlines try
their very best not to publish unrealistic flight schedules," to
the point where they have modified their hub operations and
lengthened the block of time for a flight to account for the
delays, he added.
According to the
IG's report, the DOT's enforcement office also believed that most
delays are chronically beyond the carriers' control, and that "a
successful enforcement action for unrealistic scheduling would be
difficult at best."
On a related
issue, the IG's report also chided airlines for the on-time
performance information they make available to consumers at the
time of booking.
The report said
only five of the 16 airlines that were reviewed provided
flight-specific on-time data on their Web sites, and that call
center agents provided accurate data only 59% of the time when
testers called them to ask.
The DOT posts the
data on the Web, but its Bureau of Transportation Statistics has
made the data difficult to find, the IG said.
The IG also said
airlines are using technology to provide better information to
customers about delays and cancellations before they get to the
airport and on display screens at the airport. But the IG said its
testing found gate agents are failing to provide timely or adequate
information to travelers nearly half the time.
To contact reporter Andrew Compart,
send e-mail to
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