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Air Travelers Association Opposes Passenger Bill of Rights

By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com

April 9, 2007

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An advocacy organization, the Air Travelers Association (ATA), says it opposes the Passengers Bill of Rights legislation under consideration by the U.S. Congress.

ATA president David Stempler says the bill would actually make things worse for air travelers. He cites the following reasons:

• Cancellations would increase
• Air fares would rise
• Safety could be compromised
• A single passenger could wield veto power over pilots, dispatchers, controllers, and other trained officials.

In addition, according to Stempler, penalties to punish airlines for extensive delays already exist and no further penalties are needed.

The ATA's position coincides with that of the airline industry, which insists it can police itself.

Congressional impetus for a Passengers Bill of Rights followed a Feb. 14 ice storm that snarled air traffic in the northeast and resulted in nine JetBlue flights waiting on the JFK tarmac for 6-10 hours apiece.

The ATA insists passage of the congressional bill would create even more chaos.

For example, it says the bill would give one passenger the right to leave a plane that sits three hours on the ground prior to departure or upon arrival, with two 30-minute extensions, except if there is a risk to safety or security.

The ATA says airlines would deal with that caveat by canceling, rather than delaying flights, thus making it harder for passengers to reach their destinations -- sometimes for days -- because of unavailable seats on subsequent flights.

Because such cancellations reduce revenues and raise costs for airlines, and because the Passenger Bill of Rights requires food to be carried aboard every flight, the ATA predicts carriers would probably respond to passage by raising fares.

Because the bill places penalties on airlines for delays, cancellations, and diverted flights, airline safety could be jeopardized by carriers that decide to do anything to avoid potential fines, ATA argues.

Allowing a single passenger to order a flight cancellation also works against the greater good, the ATA says, since operational control of planes should remain in the hands of pilots, dispatchers, air traffic controllers, meteorologists, and others working in concert for airline safety.

"Passengers angry at the airlines tend to be in favor of the Passenger Bill of Rights because they want to punish the airlines," Stempler says. "But in fact, they will punish themselves ... the PBOR will hurt passengers, not help them."

Stempler is an aviation attorney and has a background in all areas of aviation. He has been president of two regional airlines and a senior vice president of a jet charter company. He was part of the legal team that was responsible for the grounding of all DC-10 aircraft in 1979.

ATA says it "advocates for airline passengers on airline safety, security, savings, and service." Its Web page says the organizaiton "is not currently offering memberships." Its Web site offers no information on how many members the association has. Calls to its office were not answered.

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