NPRM Coming, Based On Task Force Recommendations
Overshadowed completely by President George W. Bush's
Tuesday morning announcement of measures to reduce air
traffic congestion over the holidays was another
announcement by the Department of Transportation (DOT) which is
disappointing airline passenger advocates.
DOT will issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to
implement the recommendations of its "Tarmac Task Force." As ANN reported, last week
the panel wrapped up a year of meetings at DOT's offices in
Washington, DC.
Heavily weighted with representatives of airports and the
airline industry, the panel's final report recommends no
substantive measures be required of the airlines to minimize or
mitigate lengthy strandings of passengers.
Kate Hanni, founder and executive director of CAPBOR, the
Coalition for an Airline Passengers Bill of Rights, was stranded
with her husband and two sons inside an American Airlines jet, on
the tarmac at Austin, TX for over eight hours on December 29,
2006.
Her outrage was a seed which has grown into a coalition claiming
24,000 members, including many airline flight attendants, who bear
the burdens of dealing with passengers who may become physically
ill or violently angry during tarmac strandings.
In the two years since Hanni's stranding, she has been
frustrated as promises from Congress to enact a passengers bill of
rights have been blocked in the Senate, where airline lobbyists
have significant influence.
Hanni tells ANN she was the only member of DOT's 35-member task
force without ties to either government or the airline industry.
Not surprisingly, she was the lone dissenting vote in a 34-1
decision last week to release a final report which requires only
token attention from the airlines to the needs of passengers in
cases of tarmac strandings. Those recommendations are now included
in the DOT's NPRM.
At first glance, the NPRM looks promising. In its solicitation
of public comments, DOT's published abstract says the rule would,
among other measures, enhance airline passenger protections by
requiring airlines to adopt contingency plans for lengthy tarmac
delays and incorporate them in their contracts of carriage, and
require carriers to respond to consumer problems.
Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said of the task force's
report, "...this document and the viewpoints of all the task force
members should provide a valuable resource to minimize the
hardships to passengers resulting from lengthy airline ground
delays."
But Hanni notes the language in the report is filled with the
same vague terms which make airline contracts of carriage
essentially meaningless and unenforceable. In addressing tarmac
strandings, American Airlines has contract language which says,
"...American Airlines and American Eagle will make every reasonable
effort to ensure that essential needs of food (snack bar such as
Nutri-Grain), water, restroom facilities, and basic medical
assistance are met." In case the undefined term "reasonable effort"
is not vague enough to be unenforceable, the next sentence reads,
"We are not responsible for any special, incidental or
consequential damages if we do not meet this commitment."
DOT proposes that airlines be required to adopt contingency
plans to deal with tarmac strandings, but does not define what
constitutes a lengthy delay, allows the airlines to write their own
plans, and lets them audit their own compliance. The publication of
the NPRM in the Federal Register will trigger the start of a 60-day
public comment period which will include several major
holidays.
DOT reports spending $140,000 to administer the panel, and
Hanni's coalition spent another $15,000 covering her expenses to
participate. The watered-down result has left her back where she
started in January 2007 -- determined to pursue specific
legislation to create a passengers bill of rights with the new US
Congress and the incoming Obama administration.
Despite early setbacks, Hanni says she still finds reason for
hope.
"(Senator) Obama happened to be a co-sponsor of our legislation,
of the standalone bill that we had on the Senate side," Hanni said.
"Senator Biden had done a press release late last year... about a
comprehensive passenger bill of rights that he would like to see
passed if he were President. Rahm Emanuel, who's the new chief of
staff, is a huge proponent of our passenger bill of rights on the
house side.
"So, there is some really good news on the horizon, not only for
our airline passenger bill of rights, but I believe for the whole
FAA modernization bill. Everything in that bill is going to be good
for passengers."
In this brief period of transition, it is difficult to know
whether Secretary Peters -- who is no stranger to political
hyperbole -- really considered the task force document a "valuable
resource," or was simply running with it to get an early start on
cleaning out her desk.
Hanni will appear to discuss this story in detail Wednesday, on
the Aero News Special Feature audio Aero-Cast.