SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHT ABOUT JETBLUE'S BILL OF
RIGHTS
Payment goes up for luggage lost by airlines
Luggage à la carte: Add-on fees add up
The
airlines' luggage quandary
PAPER AIRLINE TICKET ON THE VERGE OF
EXTINCTION
Airline complaint? Well, speak up!
HOTEL SCAM TARGETS CREDIT CARD DATA
GUNS IN THE
COCKPIT
CONFISCATED AIRLINE CARRY-ON ITEMS BECOME BIG
SELLERS ON EBAY
TRAINING
THE TSA SCREENERS
777 COCKPIT
SECURITY PROBLEM
SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHT ABOUT JETBLUE'S BILL OF RIGHTS
from The Travel Insider Weekly Newsletter, written by David M Rowell
February 23, 2007
And so what of the
Bill of Rights that JetBlue has written for
itself? Is JetBlue a hero or
a zero?
JetBlue's Bill of Rights is, alas, a textbook example of why we
can't trust the airlines to police themselves.
Their Bill of (non)Rights is incomplete and non specific. Much
of its obligations are based on events being what the airline calls
'Controllable Irregularities'. But nowhere does this Bill
define what is (and more importantly, what is not) a controllable
irregularity. Care to guess if the 11 hour delays last week
would end up being considered as controllable or uncontrollable
irregularities?
It
completely overlooks rights for things like delayed, lost or damaged
bags.
Their Bill of (non)Rights apparently obliges them to pay
compensation if they cancel a flight, but - hey! - it doesn't oblige
them to accommodate you on another flight operated by another
airline. Which would you prefer - a refund of your ticket, and
no way to now fly to where you need to go for the price you
originally paid, or no refund, but being placed on another airline
and flown to your destination as close as possible to your
originally booked flight time?
And
there's only one case where JetBlue actually undertakes to pay you
actual cash. Most of the time you just get vouchers good for
discounts off future flights with JetBlue - and although their Bill
of (non)Rights doesn't say this, chances are the vouchers will
expire if you don't use them within a certain period, making them of
little value to people who only rarely fly on JetBlue.
Will the vouchers be transferrable to other people? The Bill is
silent on this important point. Would you be able to group vouchers
from several people and use them to completely pay for a subsequent
flight? Again, we don't know.
If
your flight is one to two hours late leaving, you'll get a $25
voucher to be applied against a future flight, if it is two to four
hours late, you get $50, and increasingly larger amounts for longer
delays, but not even for a 6+ hour delay in a flight departing do
you receive any entitlement to a meal voucher or overnight
accommodation. Apparently your right is to sleep overnight at
the airport without food or drink.
The
only cash payment is to passengers who are involuntarily denied
boarding (ie due to overbooking). Being as how cash payments
are both mandated by law already, and being as how JetBlue never
overbook their flights and so have a very very low rate of
involuntary denied boardings, the $1000 payment they offer to make
is one they'll seldom if ever need to actually pay out on, and not
much more than what they're required to pay by law anyway.
And
how does their Bill of (non)Rights cover passengers stuck on an
arrived plane that is unable to get to its gate? Bad news.
Although it starts offering you discount vouchers after being
delayed for more than 30 minutes on arrival (strangely, you have to
wait three hours before they start to pay out for delayed departing
flights) it is only after five hours that the Bill says "JetBlue
will take necessary action so that customers may deplane".
Hardly a very exciting promise.
One
more thing about those ground delays. The Bill doesn't explain
how they'll be calculated. So you might think you've been
stuck on the ground for an hour, but JetBlue might say '31 minutes
of this is normal scheduled ground time, so you don't get any
compensation at all'.
And
what happens if JetBlue does end up obliged to compensate you in
some way under its Bill? Oooops. There's nothing in its
Bill that requires it to provide your vouchers in any timely manner,
nothing about having a toll free Customer Service number, or
anything about how you can actually exercise your rights, and if you
feel the need to sue them, the Bill doesn't give you the right to do
so in a District or Small Claims Court.
So
what to make of JetBlue's Bill of (non)Rights? Is it better
than nothing? Yes, definitely. But is it comprehensive
and does it cover all the many different ways airlines can mistreat
us? Absolutely not. In my opinion, JetBlue's actions are
an example of an airline cynically wrapping itself in customer
friendly behavior and throwing out a conciliatory document in the
hope of heading off a much more sweeping document being imposed on
it.
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Payment goes
up for luggage lost by airlines
What's the most an airline should have to pay if it loses a
passenger's suitcase and all its contents? The federal government
says $3,000 for domestic flights and, starting Feb. 28, that's
likely to be the upper limit for every big U.S. airline. (USA Today)
Read the full story
Return to Index
Luggage à la carte:
Add-on fees add up
Odds are, it's just a matter of time until American travelers feel
the pinch
How much clothing can you fit in your
carry-on bag? If new baggage fees just announced by British Airways
take hold across the industry, you may want to find out. (MSNBC.com)
Read the full story
Return to Index
The airlines' luggage
quandary
Courtesy of Christopher Elliott,
Ellipses
Why haven't more airlines begun charging
passengers for their checked luggage? It's easy money, and customer
resistance to it seems relatively low.
Here's what is probably going on.
Air carriers currently have a long list of
items for which they won't take responsibility. For example,
American Airlines will pay up to $2,800 per lost or damaged bag
under its
Conditions of Carriage,
but check out these exclusions:
"... antiques, artifacts, artwork, books
and documents, china, computers and other electronic equipment,
computer software, fragile items (including child/infant restraint
devices such as strollers and car seats), eyeglasses, prescription
sunglasses, non-prescription sunglasses and all other eyewear and
eye/vision devices whether lenses are glass, plastic, or some other
material, furs, heirlooms, items carried in the passenger
compartment of the aircraft, liquids, medicines, money, orthotics,
surgical supports, perishable items, photographic, video and optical
equipment, precious metals, stones or jewelry, securities and
negotiable papers, silverware, samples, unique or irreplaceable
items or any other similar valuable items."
In other words, almost everything
is excluded.
So what's the problem?
Well, if we start paying an airline to
transport our luggage, our expectations change. When it's no longer
"free," passengers begin to think of their carrier as an overnight
delivery service.
Check out Federal Express'
terms and conditions,
and you'll see that the company assumes liability for a lot more
than any airline. The only items its contract specifically excludes
from liability are fluorescent tubes, neon lighting, neon signs,
X-ray tubes, laser tubes, light bulbs, quartz crystal, quartz lamps,
glass tubes such as those used for specimens, and glass containers
such as those used in laboratory test environments. FedEx also
doesn't accept liability for the shipment of scale models
(including, but not limited to, architectural models and dollhouses)
and prototypes.
While we've seen some airlines move in the
direction of
charging customers
for checked luggage, I think they are hesitating to go RyanAir on
us.
If they do, they could end having to pay
more in damages than they would potentially make in revenues.
Return to Index
PAPER
AIRLINE TICKET ON THE VERGE OF EXTINCTION
Paper airline
tickets, once the industry standard, are on the fast track to
oblivion. If the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has
its way, airlines will issue only electronic tickets by the end of
2007, sending paper tickets the way of other rapidly disappearing
industry services such as in-flight meals and free pillows.
(Reuters)
Read the full story
Return to Index
Airline complaint? Well,
speak up!
Courtesy of James Wysong, Tripso
I have read several reports recently
stating that airline complaints are decreasing. Are the airlines
getting better at what they do, or are people just giving up? I
mean, have you ever tried to figure out where to file a complaint?
Sure, there may be an address in the in-flight magazine, sandwiched
somewhere between the boring editorials and the ads for crappy
gifts, but who takes those magazines home? I wonder how many people
get steamed, write a letter, and then throw it away because they
don’t know where to send it.
I am a flight attendant, and you might not
expect me to encourage complaints against airlines, but I do. I am
even going to give you some effective techniques for complaining,
along with a list of addresses. Why? Because the airlines are losing
touch with their employees. Union concerns, greed and distrust are
rampant after all the bankruptcies, contract renegotiations and
pension cuts. Airline executives will no longer listen to their
frontline workers, so it is up to the customers to speak up and be
heard.
But before you compose your letter of
complaint, you must compose yourself. Here are some tips for
effective complaining.
1. Be reasonable. Count to
10, put the shoe on the other foot, and consider whether your
grievance is worth making a big fuss about. If it’s just a bruised
ego or a misunderstanding, then let it go. Save the big guns for the
real trouble.
2. Report rudeness.
Despite what I just said, always report outright rudeness. An
employee who is overly rude is probably a repeat offender. Enough
complaint letters against that person will bring results.
3. Get the details. As
soon as the incident occurs, write down as much information as you
can. Names, date and time, flight numbers, baggage carousel numbers
-- anything you remember that can help you accurately describe the
event in question.
4. Get a witness . If you
are treated very badly and a neutral party sees it happen, get his
or her name and number. Witness testimony carries a lot of weight
when it comes to resolving a grievance.
5. Try for immediate resolution.
If you have the time and the patience, try to get the problem fixed
immediately. That’s your best shot at a satisfactory resolution. As
time goes, the complaint loses its urgency for everyone involved.
6. Keep you temper. You
might be furious, but yelling at me at the top of your lungs in
flight is just wasted energy. Maybe I’ll agree with you, or maybe
I’ll nod to placate you, or maybe I’ll just notice you have bad
breath. In any case, yelling won’t improve your chances of a
positive outcome, and it could get you in trouble. You don’t want to
appear to threaten a flight attendant; that’s a violation of FAA
rules.
7. Write a letter. If
immediate resolution is not possible, the best chance of a
satisfactory outcome is by writing a letter or e-mail.
8. Know the rules. The
purchase of a ticket makes a contract between you and the airline.
You have certain rights, but the airline is not responsible for
everything that can go awry. For example: The airline is required to
get you to your final destination, but if weather causes a delay,
you might find yourself out of pocket for a hotel stay; because the
delay is not the airline’s fault, it is not liable for your costs.
So before you complain, read the fine print.
9. Just the facts, Ma’am.
You don’t want to write a letter that starts out, “Dear CEO, Your
airline is crap.” While that may be true, the tone will produce very
few good results.
10. Know what you want.
Whether it be an apology, change of procedure, someone’s job or
compensation, be specific about what action from the airline will
satisfy you.
11. Don’t expect too much.
Be reasonable with your demands. In fact, it may be best to expect
nothing. That way, you will be pleasantly surprised if you get a
reply, and if you don’t, you will have the satisfaction of having
spoken your mind.
12. If all else fails, change
airlines. If you don’t get the response you had hoped for
or you are dissatisfied with the result, then change airlines.
Having to suffer through flight after flight with an airline that
you have come to hate will turn you into a sourpuss, and that’s bad
for your mental health.
Passenger complaints can be very helpful to
frontline employees, especially complaints about insufficient
staffing or workers who look wracked by flu and seem like they
should be in bed. Such complaints send a distinct message to
management to stop overworking that one gate agent and punishing
flight attendants who call in sick.
On the other side of the coin are
compliments. You know, praise for that certain someone who saved
your flight from being a total disaster. Just as the rude ones
deserve reprimand, so do the helpful ones deserve commendation. I
know they are getting harder and harder to find, but they are out
there and they need an occasional pat on the back.
I once received a commendation letter
remarking how funny I was and making particular mention of my
ability to poke fun of airline idiocy. Sadly, it was taken as a
letter of complaint and counted as a black mark in my personnel
file. But it’s the thought that counts.
Now, as promised, here are some addresses
and links:
If your complaint is safety related, you
need to address your concern to the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) at:
Assistant Administrator for System Safety
ASY-100
Federal Aviation Administration
800 Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20591
You can also contact the FAA by phone at
800-FAA-SURE (800-322-7873).
If it has to do with security, it should go
to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) by phone at the
TSA Contact Center (866-289-9673) or by e-mail at
tsa-contactcenter@dhs.gov.
If your complaint is airline specific, you
can go to the airline’s Web site and look hard under customer
relations. Here are some of the major airlines’ links.
American Airlines,
Continental Airlines,
Delta Air Lines,
Northwest Airlines,
Southwest Airlines,
US Airways,
United Airlines.
You can use those links for the compliments
as well.
And always try to remember, the frontline
workers don't write the lyrics, they just sing the song!
Return to Index
HOTEL SCAM
TARGETS CREDIT CARD DATA
By Marshall Loeb Of MarketWatch
If you're staying in a hotel and receive a ''helpful'' call from
the concierge regarding your credit card, beware. Money magazine
reports on a new scam making the rounds, and it targets trusting
travelers.
The premise is simple enough. During your stay at a hotel, you
receive a call from someone claiming to be from the front desk.
''There was a problem with your credit card,'' they'll say. ''Can
you please verify your card number and billing address?''
But wait — won't you know if the call is not coming from within the
hotel? Not if the fraudster called the front desk first, asking to
speak with someone in a specific room or with a common last name
such as Johnson.
If the front desk successfully transfers the call to your room, it
will look like it came from within the hotel. In this case, most
travelers are inclined to provide the information. That information
can be enough for a scammer to make illegal charges using your
credit card.
The American Hotel and Lodging Association says that most hotels
won't ask you to verify such information over the phone, so if you
get such a call, don't fall for it. Instead, tell the caller you'll
verify the information in person at the front desk.
Follow up at the desk yourself, and you'll likely find out it was a
scam. If there was a problem with your card, you can handle it at
the desk.
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GUNS IN
THE COCKPIT
Have you ever wondered what type of
training pilots have to go through before they're allowed to carry
guns into the cockpit?
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2824198
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CONFISCATED AIRLINE CARRY-ON ITEMS BECOME BIG SELLERS ON EBAY
If you've ever had a
favorite lighter or pocket knife confiscated at airport security and
then seen something just like it for sale on eBay, maybe
it actually is (was!) yours
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TRAINING THE TSA SCREENERS
If you've ever guessed at the
type of training the TSA screeners get,
this 'candid' video will come as
no surprise.
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777 COCKPIT
Here's an interesting website that shows
what the pilots see and do in a 777 cockpit.
http://www.meriweather.com/777/deck-777.html
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