Fri, Jun 22, 2007
Groups Call For Congressional Investigation
Representatives with the Coalition for an Airline Passengers'
Bill of Rights tell ANN an unusual public meeting was held
Thursday, called by the DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics
(BTS) and attended by over 150 airline representatives, on how to
fix inaccurate and incomplete data reporting of flight delays and
strandings.
At the meeting, aviation consumer groups charged the agency was
misleading the flying public with flight delay statistics that omit
the most serious delays caused by flight cancellations and
diversions, called for the agency to correct misleading testimony
submitted to Congress by high DOT officials at April hearings on
strandings, and suggested ways to fix reporting deficiencies.
"DOT delay statistics are inaccurate to the point of being
deceptive," said Paul Hudson, executive director of the Aviation
Consumer Action Project (ACAP). "For example, the agency now admits
that there were over 16,000 flight diversions last year but it
collected no data on the delays this caused passengers. The DOT
also admits that it does not count cancellations, which are now one
in 20 flights, as causing any delay. It also has now admitted it
fails to record time on tarmac confinements of up to 12 hours,
including the mass stranding by JetBlue at JFK Airport in February
that received national headlines."
CAPBOR tells ANN the group's Chief Research Director, Mark
Mogel, discovered the DOT was not counting flight diversions and
cancellations as 'time on the tarmac' in its computations of
airline delays.
"If the agency that is charged with preventing deceptive
practices by airlines does not correct its own inaccurate testimony
and public statements, it is itself guilty of misleading the public
and Congress," Hudson added. "Current DOT reports on airline flight
delays are like a doctor telling a patient all about his hang
nails, but omitting to mention he also has cancer."
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