American Airlines
The Associated Press

Grounded.

Featured Topic | Posted 35 weeks 4 days ago

Do airline passengers deserve a bill of rights?

It was just a coincidence -- we think -- but American Airlines canceled 200 flights Wednesday. That was the day after a federal court struck down a New York law guaranteeing airline passengers a "bill of rights" requiring airlines to provide food, water, clean toilets and fresh air to passengers trapped in a plane delayed on the ground. Should government require an airline passenger bill of rights?

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Ben likes: Bill of Wrongs

Stephen Silvinski/The American

In February, a planeload of JetBlue passengers spent eight well-documented hours stuck on the tarmac. It took Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California) only three days to respond. Her thought: an "Airline Passenger Bill of Rights." She doesn't want to amend the U.S. Constitution to protect us from unwarranted impediments to life, liberty, and the pursuit of aisle seating. But the grandiloquence of the bill's title is revealing—rather than answering a policy need, the new measure simply reflects Congress's there-ought-to-be-a-law mentality.

Boxer's bill would create a passenger "right" to food, water, adequate restroom facilities, and an option to deplane if a flight is delayed longer than three hours. It's no surprise that in the wake of the JFK debacle, JetBlue issued its own "Customer Bill of Rights," providing everything the Boxer bill mandates plus various forms of compensation—and that's a move other airlines may want to mimic.

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Joel likes: Unfriendly skies

New York Times

The airlines are not alone to blame for the mess. Bad weather and the nation’s outdated radar-based traffic control have also played a role. But the competitive nature of an industry desperate to maximize revenues after years of hard times has led to excessively crowded skies and enormous inconveniences for ordinary travelers.

To that end, federal officials should be pushing for a federal passenger bill of rights to protect passengers from the worst indignities of airline congestion, including what amounts to incarceration on the runway. Several states, including New York, have already adopted their own codes, but they cannot guarantee consistent protection. It’s time for Washington to get on board and put passengers’ needs first.

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Thoughts

Architecture Jobs

Submitted on November 25th, 2008 by Anonymous

Hello,

I just found a good source of architecture jobs I recently found called ArchitectureCrossing.

From what I have been told is that ArchitectureCrossing researches all of the architecture jobs from other job boards and employer websites and puts them all its site.

Kidnapping

Submitted on March 29th, 2008 by Anonymous

One definition of kidnapping is to be detained against one's will. Of course, the police have the authority to do this under certain circumstances, and a passenger could not change his mind mid-flight (the fact that he boarded the aircraft with a ticket to the destination would, it seems to me, be an acknowledgment of his willingness to take the flight). But a ticketed passenger does have certain reasonable expectations as to the schedule of the flight (the ticket does indicate departure and arrival times).

If an airline is unable to meet the schedule within a reasonable amount of time (2 hours), regardless of the cause of the delay, the passenger should expect to be allowed off the plane (in turn, the airline does not have to allow the individual back on the plane prior to takeoff).

Once a delay becomes excessive, the passenger's implied willingness to travel is no longer valid because the departure time committed by the airline has not been met. I believe the airline's failure to allow the passengers to get off the airplane is kidnapping. I'd love to see someone try to pursue this in court!

It seems pretty self-evident.

Submitted on March 27th, 2008 by The Big Klosowski

I've been stuck on a runway without access to water or a restroom. Seems to me this is a simple decision.

I voted with my wallet and vowed never to fly that airline again. However, those people in smaller markets don't have that choice.

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