The Bureau of Transportation Statistics this week published the latest report on air-travel problems. In 2006, more people were bumped from flights than the year before, the rate of lost baggage hit a 16-year high and one in four domestic flights was late.
Still, about 70 percent of flights were reported on-time. Some flights were late 100 percent of the time for a month. The top five latest flights were operated by SkyWest.
Read the report here [PDF].
Click here to drill into air-travel statistics and trends, including historical on-time arrival records.
See a summary from the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times[PDF].
Airline Passenger Bill of Rights
Every once in a while, after an airline hoses a bunch of passengers, talk of an airline passenger Bill of Rights comes up. It is back. This time, it is fueled by a group of American Airlines passengers who were stuck on an Austin, Texas, tarmac for eight hours with no food and backed-up toilets.
Read about the saga here.
The group found a voice on C-SPAN.
Here is some information on the 2005 campaign. Airlines and Congress yawned and the bill went nowhere. The same thing happened in 2004. But now, Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) says he will take up the cause.
Why might it be difficult to get something like this done? Make no mistake about it, airlines donate a lot of money to campaigns -- see how much here. In the 2006 election cycle, airlines spent more than a million and a half bucks, about two-thirds of which went to Republican candidates.
American, Continental, Southwest, Northwest and United are the biggest givers.
Click here to see which candidates got the most campaign money from airlines. Don't forget to check political action committee contributions from airlines, too.
It is not hard to find people who are pretty passionate about this. Just go to this Google group. Several passenger-created Internet sites also illustrate outrage -- AirSafe.com and Untied.com.
I understand their passion. Last week Delta lost my bags as I was traveling to teach in Toledo, Ohio. The 800 number set up to track baggage was useless, the online tracking site hadn't been updated in more than 24 hours, and the Delta baggage folks in Detroit refused to give me their local number. So, off I went to the Toledo Wal-Mart to buy clothes to wear on my trip -- again. That's right, this has happened before.
This is what the newest group proposes:
All American air carriers shall abide by the following standards to ensure the safety, security and comfort of their passengers:
- Establish procedures to respond to all passenger complaints within 24 hours and with appropriate resolution within 2 weeks.
- Notify passengers within ten minutes of a delay of known diversions, delays and cancellations via airport overhead announcement, on aircraft announcement, and posting on airport television monitors.
- Establish procedures for returning passengers to terminal gate when delays occur so that no plane sits on the tarmac for longer than three hours without connecting to a gate.
- Provide for the essential needs of passengers during air- or ground-based delays of longer than 3 hours, including food, water, sanitary facilities, and access to medical attention.
- Provide for the needs of disabled, elderly and special needs passengers by establishing procedures for assisting with the moving and retrieving of baggage, and the moving of passengers from one area of airport to another at all times by airline personnel.
- Publish and update monthly on the company’s public web site a list of chronically delayed flights, meaning those flight delayed thirty minutes or more, at least forty percent of the time, during a single month.
- Compensate "bumped" passengers or passengers delayed due to flight cancellations or postponements of over 12 hours by refund of 150 percent of ticket price.
- The formal implementation of a Passenger Review Committee, made up of non-airline executives and employees but rather passengers and consumers – that would have the formal ability to review and investigate complaints.
- Make lowest fare information, schedules and itineraries, cancellation policies and frequent flyer program requirements available in an easily accessed location and updated in real-time.
- Ensure that baggage is handled without delay or injury; if baggage is lost or misplaced, the airline shall notify customer of baggage status within 12 hours and provide compensation equal to current market value of baggage and its contents.
- Require that these rights apply equally to all airline code-share partners including international partners.
What are your rights as a passenger currently? The American Society of Travel Agents spells that out. The rules are slightly different in Canada.
I like this passage:
Where problems delay or misdirect baggage, the passenger is entitled to full explanation, diligent search, fast forwarding (within 24 hours), and full reimbursement of damage or loss.
As you read this column, I'll be flying to Flint, Mich., to teach a writing and storytelling workshop.
Wish me and my bags good luck.
Al's Morning Multimedia
Last year I told you The Spokesman-Reviewin Spokane, Wash., started webcasting its morning editorial meeting.
The idea is spreading.
KPIX-TV in San Francisco/Oakland, Calif., now webcasts a briefing from its assignment desk manager, describing what the station is working on for the evening newscasts. The site also contains tons of raw video from news stories. This may be the largest collection of raw and Web-exclusive video I have seen on a television station's Web site. The assignment editor briefing is very good. You can actually learn a lot of news just by watching this. I imagine competitors learn a lot, too.
KNBC in Los Angeles has "News Raw," which offers a look into the newsroom. Click on the "News Raw Inside" section to get the daily editorial meeting rundown. Watch reporters pitch stories, and watch the producers get excited about video from the previous night's council meeting -- really, they do!
WCPO in Cincinnati previews the stories the newsroom is working on for that evening with something called "9News Netcast."
Mobile-Home Safety
A week after tornadoes killed 20 people in Florida, a question is forming: What needs to be done to make mobile homes, especially older ones, safer? All 20 tornado victims died in mobile homes.
Twenty-two million Americans live in mobile homes.
You can click here to get a mountain of housing data from the feds.
North Carolina, South Carolina, New Mexico, Virginia and Alabama have the largest percentage of mobile homes, also called manufactured homes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Florida Manufactured Housing Association says manufactured homes built today are comparable in quality to site-built homes and can withstand the same winds as traditional homes.
One of the most important safety measures that manufactured home owners can take is to install tie-down straps.
WESH-TV in Orlando reports:
"A lot of times, when we're doing inspections of older mobile homes, we find that there's either no straps underneath it or the straps that are there are rotted out," said Ron Resch, a home building expert.
He said in the past, small strips of metal were used at the base of homes to tie them down.
"Today, what they do with mobile homes is the strap that goes around it goes around the entire mobile home," Resch said.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 20 percent of all Floridians living in mobile homes live in ones that were built before new standards were established.
On one street in Lake Mack, the only thing left of a mobile home that did not have straps is the floor.
Just across the yard, another mobile home had two hurricane straps wrapped around it. It sustained heavy damage but it's still standing. Next door, another mobile home had 12 straps and it is almost intact.
Straps and anchors must be installed by a licensed and certified building strap installer, according to state law. Older mobile homes can be retrofitted, but mobile home owners cannot do it themselves.
With spring storms just about five weeks away, this is something worth paying attention to. I know that is hard to believe, since some of you are covered with snow. Remember: In addition to serving as homes, these same kinds of structures often shelter children at school.
I wonder what inspectors would find if they looked around mobile-home parks and schools in your town.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends upon the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and inaccuracies found will be corrected.
