Says Airlines Still Trying To Cover Up Delays From DOT

The Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights (CAPBOR) issued a statement Monday from its founder and executive director, Kate Hanni, on the Air Transport Association's (ATA) response to a recent Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) inquiry that aims to gather delay statistics on flights diverted off their original itinerary and for extended confinements of passengers on the tarmac.

"We are outraged by ATA's comments that aim to shield airlines from having to release damaging data about their deplorable and disastrous track record in regard to passenger customer service. This is especially appalling as the ATA in June promised to support correcting the lack of data reporting on ground delays. It seems airlines could care less about the well-being of the flying public, as is evident from the ATA's response to the BTS inquiry."

According to the Coalition, a June 20 ATA press release stated, "We encourage DOT efforts to more accurately report certain aspects of aircraft time on the ground." However, on August 7 in its official submission to DOT/BTS (Docket 28522), the ATA opposes collecting data on delays cause by flight diversions asserting such statistics would be hard to collect and "of little use to passengers."

In 2006, there were over 16,000 diversions which caused serious delays to over 1.6 million passengers but were unreported by the airlines and BTS. In 2007, based the rate of diversion (0.35%) over the first six months, CAPBOR estimates that there will be over 2.2 million passengers whose trips will be delayed by many hours to several days and which often involve the worst and most lengthy tarmac confinements. In 2007 to date, CAPBOR has documented over 300 strandings involving confinements of passengers in aircraft on the tarmac for over 4 hours. However, the ATA refers to diversions as "insignificant" and seeks continued suppression of this information from the traveling public.

As ANN reported, passengers aboard Continental Flight 1669Y from Caracas, Venezuela were diverted from their initial destination of Newark, NJ to Baltimore BWI airport. CAPBOR says the passengers were victims of mistreatment during a 12-hour ordeal.

The Coalition also states DOT hasn't corrected its reporting requirements to capture delays caused by diversions and tarmac confinements. BTS admits current delay statistics do not count cancelled flights (which are scored as zero minutes delay) but which actually delay for hours to days about 15 million passengers per year or flight diversions (over 16,000 flights in 2006, according to BTS, affecting over 1.6 million passengers).

"The truth is that what ATA may dismiss as unimportant data is absolutely crucial to giving legal rights and a voice to the flying public. If no data is collected on diverted and chronically delayed flights, then we will never be able to develop a realistic picture of how the airlines treat their most vulnerable passengers. While ATA talks about dismissing statistics and discrediting flight data, our Coalition talks about tens of thousands of passengers -- human beings -- whose lives are disrupted and turned upside down by commercial airlines that are disconnected and simply don't care about its customers."

"It's time for Congress and the Government to hold commercial airlines accountable for their actions and ensure that they report statistics that include horrific instances such as the ones aboard Continental flight 1669Y," Hanni concluded.

FMI: www.flyersrights.com, www.dot.gov, www.airlines.org