More power to the flying people - A new rule will require airlines to pay up to $1,300 for bumping passengers from oversold flights

A.H.

IT WOULD seem to make sense for an airline to refund baggage-handling fees if it has lost your luggage. Yet this is not the case in the United States, where carriers have to pay a reasonable amount for losing, damaging or delaying luggage, but do not have to return any extra handling fees. However, a tougher version of the Department of Transportation’s Passenger Protections Rule will soon change this, and also require airlines to pay for bumping passengers from oversold flights. The new fees, slated to take effect later this year, will see displaced passengers receiving double their ticket price, up to a maximum of $800 instead of the current $400, if the airline can get them to their destination within a reasonable amount of time (defined as within one to two hours of the schedule for domestic flights and within one to four hours for international flights). Passengers stalled for longer periods will receive four times the ticket price, up to a maximum of $1,300.

Other new requirements include the prominent disclosure of all potential fees on airline websites, and the inclusion of government taxes in every advertised fare. The existing ruling about fines for tarmac delays will also be expanded. Currently airlines are charged $27,500 per passenger when a domestic flight is delayed on the tarmac for more than three hours. These rules will now include a four-hour time limit for international flights, unless for reasons of safety, security and air-traffic control (which seems to cover everything!).

The changes have left Jim Maloway, a Canadian politician, hoping to reintroduce his Canadian Passengers Bill of Rights, first brought forward in autumn 2009. “In some respects, [the U.S.] penalties are more harsh, more severe, than my compensation requirements,” said Mr Maloway. He plans to submit his bill for a third time if re-elected in the May 3rd federal election. Under Mr Maloway's proposal, passengers would be directly compensated for tarmac delays. “The passenger who has been stuck on the airplane for extended periods of hours would rather have $100 an hour in his or her pocket than a $27,000 fine to the airline, payable to the Government of Canada." Something tells Gulliver the airlines would recoup the lost money one way or another, regardless of who they pay.

A.H., Toronto, The Economist, April 22nd, 2011