Attention All Passengers by William J. McGee

the
three-hour tarmac delay rule in 2010. And then in April 2011 he announced a new
set of provisions:
    â€¢ greater transparency in fares and fees
    â€¢ refunds of baggage fees if the bags are
lost
    â€¢ increased compensation for involuntary
bumping
    â€¢ a prohibition on raising fares after tickets
are purchased
    â€¢ an expansion of the tarmac delay rules
    I asked LaHood to summarize, which he did thus: “I
served in Congress fourteen years and Congress never passed one bill having to
do with passenger rights. We were here for two years and we got it done. So you
can cross your fingers and all your toes and your legs and arms and everything
else with the hope that Congress will pass legislation. But I’m not optimistic
about that. We have done what Congress couldn’t do for a decade, and we did it
in two years.”
    My concern, one shared by many others, is that the
DOT simply has not done enough to rein in an industry that clearly wants to
police itself. Furthermore, through I would give LaHood an A for his work on
passenger rights, the DOT and its subsidiary the FAA seem incapable of providing
effective oversight of aircraft maintenance, outsourcing, regional carriers,
pilot proficiency, infant restraints, and other life-and-death safety
issues.

2
    What Happened to the Airlines?
    Capitalism without bankruptcy is like Christianity without hell.
    â€”Frank Borman, astronaut and CEO of Eastern Air Lines
    A t the very first meeting of the DOT’s Future of Aviation Advisory Committee, Raymond LaHood instructed us that two topics were off the table. One was aviation security, since that falls under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security. The other was reregulation of the airline industry, which would not be considered by the Obama administration. Yet in some ways, the battle over airline deregulation reflects the larger schism occurring in American politics. There are two warring camps, and each side wonders how the other could possibly be so blind—and so wrong.
    Proponents of deregulation claim that nearly three times as many Americans are flying, and when adjusted for inflation, airfares are lower than they’ve been in decades, while safety has improved. Critics maintain that service has deteriorated, airplane cabins are overstuffed, labor relations have imploded, airline balance sheets are a wreck, and outsourcing is compromising quality, service, and even safety. To varying degrees, there is truth in both arguments. What’s more, at times it is difficult to determine what effects, both good and bad, are directly attributable to deregulation itself, and which changes would have occurred anyway over three decades. Yet in my view, we’ve reached a tipping point, and the bad effects are outweighing the good.
    â€œClearly consumers are saving money in the deregulated era,” former congressman James Oberstar says. He points to more nonstop service and fewer one-stop flights. “But there are customer service issues and maintenance outsourcing concerns as well as concerns about consolidation.” Coming to terms with those concerns could be the most contentious battle the airline industry has ever endured.
    When Flying Was Fun (1903–78)
    It may be hard for younger people to understand that flying was not experienced by most Americans prior to the 1970s. (My father spent four years in the U.S. Army in World War II, and served on three continents before being wounded at Anzio, but all his travels were by truck, train, and transport ship.) A full sixty years after Kitty Hawk, only 15–20 percent of American adults had ever flown on an airline. Today those numbers have been reversed, with about 85 percent of the population having flown. Ed Perkins, my predecessor as editor of Consumer Reports Travel Letter , believes there’s been a societal shift: “What’s happened with the airline industry has happened in so many other industries.” He