The six-hour-long stranding of passengers aboard two different flights this month — a Continental Express regional jet diverted to Rochester, Minn., by thunderstorms and a Sun Country Airlines delay on Aug. 21 at New York’s JFK International Airport — has thrust the issue of torturous takeoff delays back into the headlines and may have improved the odds for a “passenger bill of rights” bill pending in Congress.
Airlines have fought similar measures in the past; such bills have languished in Congress since 2007. Carriers continue to lobby against rules governing flight delays, citing the additional costs and operational hassles. Still, supporters of the rights measures think there’s a better chance of passage after the recent incidents. And those supporters include at least one airline CEO.
“It’s going to be painful for the airline industry; it’s going to be costly,” says Sun Country CEO Stan Gadek, who has begun publicly supporting the proposed rules. “But it’s clear that the customers are not going to tolerate this any longer.” [Sun Country is not a member of the Air Transport Assn.,, the U.S. carriers’ main trade group, which has lobbied against the passenger rights bill.]
Link to FAA Reauthorization
The biggest changes are contained in the Senate version of the measure, which would mandate a three-hour limit on tarmac delays, after which a flight would have to return to the terminal unless the captain was reasonably certain of departure within the next 30 minutes. Airlines say such a change will further snarl taxiways and increase flight cancellations, merely infuriating passengers in a different way. The federal bill would also require airlines to provide additional food and water during long delays and mandate that airlines and airports develop customer-service plans that would be reviewed and approved by the U.S. Transportation Dept. The agency could fine airlines and airports…