(Also see accompanying chart:
(Airline Onboard Delay Policies)As the government turns its lens on systemic airline congestion, the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General last month issued a report examining the growth of and remedies for delays involving passengers stranded onboard flights that await takeoff or deplaning.
While the recommendations come up short of suggesting a passenger bill of rights, DOT Inspector General Calvin Scovel III asked airlines to adopt more transparent policies and airports and regulators to adopt a series of best practices.
Scovel asked airlines to define what constitutes an "extended period of time" for aircraft delays with passengers onboard and specify processes to deplane stuck passengers; requested they report on-time performance through their own channels at the time of booking; and required airports to institute contingency plans in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration for onboard flight delays, among others. Scovel also called for the establishment of a "national task force of airlines, airports and FAA to coordinate and develop contingency plans to deal with lengthy delays, such as working with carriers and airports to share facilities and make gates available in an emergency."
"On-board tarmac delays," as DOT calls them, have grown significantly. "Based on the first seven months of 2007, over 54,000 scheduled flights—affecting nearly 3.7 million passengers—experienced taxi-in and taxi-out times of one to five hours or more," the report found. DOT said there were 42 percent more such cases in the first seven months of 2007, compared with the same period in 2006.
Prior to incidents in the past year
(BTN, March 5), only "four of the 13 airlines reviewed had an established time limit on the duration of tarmac delays," the report said. DOT said eight airlines have set time limits for onboard delays, while five have not. Seven airlines have yet to quantify the "extended period of time."
The report demands the enactment of such provisions, but Scovel does not suggest that one size fits all airlines. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters endorsed the findings, and the Air Transport Association president and CEO James May said such recommendations "can be implemented in short order."
However, the report notes airlines did not meet similar commitments they made in the past.