Government Watchdog Says Airlines Coming Up Short

Filed in archive Aviation Travel on September 27, 2007

According to an article on Yahoo! news, a government watchdog says U.S. airlines are not actively living up to expectations for passenger comfort set forth in 2000. But, if you've flown anywhere within the last 7 years, you know this to be true. Long delays, both at the airport and on the airplane, have made air travel inconvenient and down right annoying at times.

Remember the JetBlue incident a few months ago? Remember that some passengers waited on airplanes for 10 1/2 hours? Maybe this report will stir up some publicity and make the airlines improve.

Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel said in a report to Congress that major airlines have specifically failed to develop contingencies for stocking enough food and water or sort out when and how they would get passengers off planes during extremely long delays.

"This should be a top priority area for the airlines," Scovel said in the report released ahead of hearings in the House of Representatives and Senate on Wednesday and Thursday on airline service.

Scovel's investigation was requested by Transportation Secretary Mary Peters following embarrassing incidents last winter in Texas and New York when storms forced diversions and grounded flights.

The most sensational case involved JetBlue Airways Corp, which mishandled its ground operations at John F. Kennedy airport and wound up stranding passengers for as long as 10-1/2 hours and disrupting flights for days.

The incidents and Scovel's inquiry have focused new attention on long delays, which often occur in bad weather but also can be the result of airline scheduling and airport operations.

Based on the first seven months of 2007, Scovel's report found more than 54,000 scheduled flights affecting nearly 3.7 million passengers experienced ground delays of 1 to 5 hours or more. That is an increase of nearly 42 percent over 2006.

Congress is considering legislation that would force airlines to address the issue. Airlines oppose the measure, saying lawmaker interference could do more harm than good.