What does “Christmas Miracle” really mean for air travelers?
It’s being called a “Christmas miracle” for passengers but what does the new tarmac delay rules mean to air travelers?
“We are a captive clientele. That will still be true figuratively when the three-hour limit takes effect in April, but, thankfully, it won’t be true literally any more,” writes the Mercury News in an editorial.
The US Department of Transportation has issued a rule that requires US airlines to allow passengers to deplane if a domestic tarmac delay reaches three hours, with some exceptions.
The rule, expected to take effect in spring 2010, also requires US carriers operating international flights to specify time limits deplaning delayed passengers,
Predictably, the airlines are expecting disaster: more cancelled flights and greater passenger inconvenience.
“But beyond these platitudes (and we’ll return to them shortly) are some good observations that signal what we can expect when the rules go into effect, and what the next step will be in the ongoing passenger rights debate,” says SmarterTravel.com.
Much of the impact will be dependent on the industry.
Said George Hobica at Airfarewatchdog.com:
"Airports need to get involved to make these new rules workable and they’re just not equipped yet to do so. Surplus gates need to be set aside, and while that’s certainly possible at airports that have experienced traffic cutbacks, it’s not at others. If no gates are available, then airports need to buy people mover buses with mobile stairways to bring passengers from marooned aircraft to the terminal."
Said Scott McCartney at the Wall Street Journal’s Middle Seat Terminal blog:
"The DOT needs to put air-traffic control procedures [in place] to help airlines deplane passengers without major disruption or penalty. Controllers need to be willing to move planes around to get stranded planes out of a conga line of jets, if necessary. Work rules for pilots need to be clear so that a crew that returns to a gate doesn’t time out simply because it returned to a gate."
The point here is that these regulations are the first step on the long road to a reformed airline industry, says Smarter Travel.
The DOT is essentially saying: “We want this…you figure out how to do it.”
The only prediction for sure is that it will be a messy process.
By David Wilkening
David
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