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SOURCETAG 09021247120398
PUBLICATION: The Calgary Sun
DATE: 2009.02.12
EDITION: Final
SECTION: Editorial/Opinion
PAGE: 15
BYLINE: GREG WESTON
COLUMN: National Affairs
WORD COUNT: 473 |
Friendlier
skies? MP's air passenger bill of rights might
be just the ticket
Thousands of Canadians
trapped in the recent pre-Christmas travel hell
at snowbound airports will no doubt be cheering
the latest attempt to force the airlines to actually
treat customers better than cargo. Imagine.
Winnipeg MP Jim Maloway has introduced
draft legislation in Parliament which, in the
off-chance it passes, would create an "air
passenger bill of rights." Among other things,
passengers could no longer be imprisoned on aircraft
idling on the tarmac for hours.
The airlines would have to pay
compensation up to $1,200 to travellers stranded
when their flights are overbooked or cancelled
altogether.
Flights delayed more than two
hours would force the airlines to provide passengers
with food, drink and access to a telephone.
Most of which seems so fundamental
to any notion of customer service, it is hard
to imagine the airlines having to be beaten into
submission with new laws and regulations.
Some probably don't.
WestJet and Porter Air, for instance,
are part of a new generation of Canadian airlines
that has been gaining popularity specifically
by offering customers something more than a cramped
seat and over-priced pretzels.
For one thing, they don't bump
passengers because they don't overbook flights.
WestJet spokesman Robert Palmer
says taking care of customers, no matter what
causes their predicament, is "part of our
culture; it's what we do."
CHRISTMAS FLIGHTS
Palmer points out the airline
spent almost $3 million helping stranded Christmas
travellers with meals, hotels, taxis and bus fare.
The company also bought tickets
on other airlines, and leased a dozen extra aircraft
from all over North America to help get the backlog
of more than 5,000 stranded customers home in
time for turkey.
Industry insiders say Air Canada
tends to do only what the rules require, and those
say passengers stranded by delays or cancellations
caused by weather are not the airline's problem.
Air Canada's "ticket contract"
with its customers suggests the airline's responsibilities
don't extend much beyond getting the plane off
the ground and back down again.
Arrival and departure times "are
not guaranteed," schedules are subject to
change without notice, and "carrier assumes
no responsibility for making connections."
The most the airline will pay
for lost or damaged luggage and contents is $1,500.
Even the fare on the ticket is "subject to
change" prior to the beginning of a flight.
But for sheer gall, it's hard
to beat Air Canada's newest offering -- a $25
fee for help if a flight is cancelled or delayed.
Maloway's air passenger bill
of rights wouldn't be the first. The European
air carriers have had a similar code of conduct
for some time, covering most of the same areas
of common passenger gripes addressed by Maloway's
proposed bill.
The U.S. Transportation Department
also has rules for such things as the minimum
compensation an airline has to pay for bumping
someone off an overbooked flight.
Even Canada already has some
customer service regulations encoded in "tariffs,"
miles of legal jargon that are hard to find and
almost impossible to understand.
But as anyone who has tried to
extract compensation from Air Canada will attest,
the process is so frustrating and the reward usually
so small -- $100 for being bumped from an overbooked
flight, for instance -- it's hardly worth the
effort.
George Petsikas, head of
the National Airlines Council, warns that any
new passenger services or customer compensation
forced on the airlines will only be passed on
to consumers in higher ticket prices. "We
don't need legislation to tell us how to take
care of our passengers." If only.
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