[ad_1]
Robert Silk
On Sept. 2, the DOT released a new Airline Customer Service Dashboard, a website that compares the written service airlines provide when they are responsible for flight cancellations or significant delays.
It is a handy tool. But DOT’s statistical definitions would be more useful if they didn’t provide a huge loophole that airlines can use to avoid responsibility for a significant portion of their delays.
But first, the good news. Even before the dashboard was launched, airlines knew it was coming, leading them to make new commitments in their customer service plans against rebooking and providing hotel accommodation, meal vouchers and hotel transport in the event of cancellations and delays.
For example, before the DOT announced its upcoming dashboard in mid-August, only Southwest of the 10 largest U.S. airlines made a written commitment to rebook passengers on its own network at no cost. Now, every 10 carriers except Allegiant are making that commitment.
Although airlines are providing the service in many cases, putting commitments in writing makes them legally enforceable. And since the dashboard provides easy-to-compare charts and links to airline customer service plans, tool-savvy consumers should be equipped with the knowledge to fulfill these obligations.
Still, it’s important to understand the limitations of airlines’ obligations, which directly translates into the limitations of the dashboard’s usefulness. The commitments apply only to “controllable” delays and cancellations, as indicated in the dashboard charts. That means delays caused by the airline itself, such as aircraft maintenance or staff shortages.
That’s sensible. The airline shall not be liable for any delay caused by weather or air traffic control.
But the DOT considers delays caused by late-arriving flights to be “uncontrollable” and therefore not the responsibility of the airline.
Sometimes this makes sense; For example, the plane that takes me from Detroit to Pittsburgh is delayed when it arrives in Detroit because of snow flames in the city of departure. But in many cases, that plane arrives in Detroit late for a reason, like a crew shortage, that’s the airline’s fault. Shouldn’t airlines be on the hook for a delayed flight in those circumstances?
In June, according to DOT data, 23.4% of scheduled domestic flights by the 10 largest U.S. airlines operated but were at least 15 minutes late or diverted. Of these, 38.2% were controllable delays and 35.1% were due to aircraft arriving late. Of the remaining delays, 21.6% were related to the national aviation system, such as air traffic control problems or severe air traffic problems, while weather, security threats and diversions accounted for the remaining 5%.
It is not possible to tell from the data what proportion of the delays reported by airlines due to late arrivals were due to operational issues with the carrier earlier in the day. But when one considers that more than half of June’s delays were not caused by late-arriving planes, it’s fair to assume that the number is high.
The DOT is currently trying to position itself as a regulator of airlines’ consumer practices. The new dashboard is a great step forward. However, to maximize the usability of the dashboard, the department should amend the definition of “manageable delay” to include delays that are actually controllable.
[ad_2]
Source link
