Archive for April, 2011

In a February post, we discussed the waiting game for traveler protection against long flight delays but now just a few months later, and as promised, the waiting game is over. Today, the Department of Transportation is issuing new traveler protections that will be taking effect in late August that will require airlines to reimburse fees if they do not hold up their end of the deal. Travelers can now expect to be reimbursed those annoying luggage fees if luggage is lost and they should also expect to be paid double if they are bumped off flights.

Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, is quoted in a USAToday.com article saying, “It’s just common sense that if an airline loses your bag or you get bumped from a flight because it was oversold, you should be reimbursed. The additional passenger protections we’re announcing today will help make sure air travelers are treated with the respect they deserve.”

Well it is about time Ray!

These regulations come after years of stranded travelers and lost luggage.

The rules also protect travelers from the following:

• Airlines will be required to hold flight reservations for 24 hours at the quoted fare price if reservations were made at least a week before takeoff.
• Airlines  must now notify passengers of flight delays longer than 30 minutes.
• Airlines must refund the luggage fees if they are misplaced.
• Travelers bumped from flights and are delayed 2 hours or less are entitled to twice the price of the ticket(up to $800).
• Travelers bumped from flights longer than 2 hours can can get up to $1,300.

The airline industry had some gripes with the new protections but overall they were accepting. With the protections targeting some of the biggest issues in the airline industry, hopefully we can see more travelers flying and airports increasing in popularity with travelers while traveling (for the airlines sake anyone).

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By Tina Dowd

More Fees, More Carry On’s from the New York Times chronicles the problem airlines have created with the addition of the checked bag fee.  Check this out.

The price of checking a suitcase on an airplane — $15 to $40 a bag — has added up to more than $6 billion in revenue for airlines in the United States in the last four years, according to Transportation Department statistics. The fees have also led to an increased number of bags being carried onto airplanes.

Now, the rising number of carry-on bags — the Transportation Security Administration estimated that there were 59 million more carry-ons in 2010 than the year before — has touched off a debate about just how much it costs to screen all the added bags, who should pick up the bill and whether airport security is being stretched too thin.

[Homeland Security Secretary Janet] Napolitano estimated that adding more security staff would cost a quarter of a billion dollars a year, though she did not say whether the airlines should be asked to help pay for it. Mr. Soule said later that it would be inappropriate to comment since bag fees were not regulated by the T.S.A.

The Department of Homeland Security has proposed an increase to $4, from $2.50, in the passenger security fee, beginning in 2012. An increase in the fee, which passengers pay each time they board a plane, would raise $600 million a year, the department estimated.

Sundance Vacations is following the subject and urges traveler’s to consider this; there’s no such thing as a free bag.  Eventually, Homeland Security will raise the passenger security fee or congress will raise taxes to pay the quarter of a billion dollars that is needed to hire additional screeners.  In the meantime those extra 59 million carry-ons are a security risk.  So, check your bag just add the price of the bag into your ticket cost when you are comparison shopping.

Or consider this idea….Should airlines add a “carry-on” bag fee?