Legislation That’s Trying to Get Off the Ground : Airlines: A bill of rights intended to protect passengers against such common frustrations as flight delays, cancellations and lost luggage has been introduced in Congress.

Chances are you haven’t heard of House Resolution No. 3528. It was introduced last Oct. 25 by Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.). But it’s a safe bet that any airline passenger who has heard of the bill has supported it.

Stark’s legislation is called the Airline Passenger Bill of Rights, and it’s designed to deal with many of the aspects of airline travel that annoy, infuriate and otherwise inconvenience us: delays, cancellations, lost luggage, confusing air fares and frequent flier program rules.

Here’s a summary of the key points of H.R. 3528:

--An air carrier may not cancel a flight within 72 hours of its scheduled departure time for any reason other than safety (or, unless there are absolutely no passengers at all for that flight).

--An air carrier that cancels a flight in violation of this section must compensate passengers in the same manner as if such a person was involuntarily denied boarding ($200 if another flight gets the passenger to his destination within an hour of the original schedule, up to $400 if alternative transportation takes two or more hours).

--If a scheduled departure is going to be delayed by 15 minutes or more, the carrier must notify passengers before they board.

--The Department of Transportation must establish one toll-free number for complaints and one toll-free number for providing consumers with comparable air carrier service.

--All air carriers must establish toll-free numbers to receive and handle complaints.

--Air carriers must notify passengers about fares of limited availability, fares to which restrictions apply, fares that are limited to a certain number of seats on a flight, fares to which a restriction pertains (advance purchase of tickets, refundability of money used to buy tickets, minimum-stay requirements).

--No airline or travel agent can sell a ticket unless they notify the consumer of the lowest fare available for that flight, the time and date of expiration of the ticket, and toll-free numbers established by the DOT.

--Carriers must make tickets available that do not include the price of food and beverages. If a passenger doesn’t want to eat airline food, he doesn’t have to pay for it.

--Carriers with frequent flier programs must disclose any limitations or restrictions in a clear, concise manner.

--If a carrier has a frequent flier program, it cannot exclude any date on which the passenger wants to redeem his benefits.

--If the carrier changes terms or conditions of the program, individuals enrolled must be notified in writing at least 180 days before the changes take effect.

--The DOT must issue regulations requiring air carriers to use a standard claim form for handling claims of lost or damaged baggage.

--Carriers must reimburse passengers within 30 days of a submitted claim for lost or damaged baggage.

--Last, any airline violating any provision of this legislation would be subject to fines of $10,000 for each violation.

The Stark bill obviously addresses some important issues, but I have a few of my own amendments to suggest, and most of them deal with the subject of delays. Here’s my wish list of proposed new rules:

--Disclosure. Once passengers board a flight, if that flight is then delayed at the gate more than 15 minutes, the airline has to inform passengers the specific nature of the delay and a reasonable estimate of its duration. For delays not caused by air traffic control or weather (i.e., mechanical delays), the airline is required to update passengers with detailed information every 10 minutes.

--Passenger options. For flights delayed at the gate more than 30 minutes (for reasons other than air traffic or weather), the airline is required to open the aircraft doors and give passengers the option of disembarking and seeking alternate air transportation, which the airline must then facilitate in good faith and at no additional cost to the passenger.

For flights delayed more than 30 minutes (for reasons other than air traffic or weather) on planes not parked at the gate, the airline is then required to return to the gate to give passengers the same alternate transportation option as above.

--Additional provisions for delays. This rule applies to flights of two hours or more. Each passenger who elects to stay on an aircraft that is delayed, for reasons other than air traffic control or weather, will be properly and directly compensated by the airline for his/her inconvenience on a prorated scale based on the air fare each passenger paid.

Compensation will start once the time delay exceeds one hour, and will increase proportionately as the delay increases, with a maximum compensation figure to be no greater than 50% of the air fare paid by the passenger within any 24-hour period.

--Cancellations. This rule applies to any flight departing from a U.S. city or a flight with an immediate destination in a U.S. city. If the flight is canceled for any reason other than air traffic control or weather, the airline is responsible to obtain alternate transportation for passengers at no additional cost to passengers.

--Additional provisions for cancellations and alternate transportation. Alternate transportation must be provided at least in the same class or fare category as originally purchased by the passenger. Once a flight is canceled, if the next available flight--on any airline--departs within two hours, the original airline is relieved of any further responsiblity.

If the next available flight departs between two and six hours later, the original airline is responsible for providing a meal to passengers, as well as one free long distance telephone call to each passenger requesting one.

If the next available flight departs more than six hours later, the original airline is responsible for providing hotel accommodations, meals and one free telephone call.

And if the next available flight departs more than 12 hours later, the original airline will then be subjected to the sliding compensation scale.

Not surprisingly, these proposals (both the Stark bill and my own suggestions) are not popular with airlines.

“We don’t think the Stark bill deals with the real issues,” says Bill Jackman, spokesman for the Air Transport Assn., the main lobbying group of America’s major airlines.

“Our concern is with the state of the infrastructure of the air transport system. We need to improve and upgrade airports and runways and equipment that can lessen delays.”

As for the other provisions of the Stark bill, Jackman said the numbers of incidents of cancellations and delays, mishandled or lost baggage or denied boardings, are inflated.

For example, between January and August, 1989, there were 317,000 reports of lost or mishandled bags. “That’s not a significant number,” Jackman argues. “More than one million Americans fly every day on more than 18,500 flights.”

But what about the issue of economic cancellations?

“Whoever thinks airlines cancel flights because of low load factors doesn’t understand how airlines operate,” Jackman says. “We can’t get a plane from point B to point C if we don’t fly it from point A to B. Some of the provisions of the Stark bill could result in more delays.”

In the short run, perhaps Jackman is right, because the airlines would have to come to grips with compliance. But probably not in the long run. The Airline Passenger Bill of Rights could very well serve to eliminate the capricious cancellations (flights canceled because of light passenger loads) that do happen, or flight delays caused by combining flights with other flights that have light passenger loads.

In the area of aircraft maintenance, the bill would also serve as a strong financial incentive for airlines to do a better job at airports they serve frequently, but where they do not have maintenance personnel.

At this writing, Stark’s bill is awaiting a public hearing in the House Public Works and Transportation Committee. If you have any thoughts on the bill, now’s the time to let the committee know. Write to the Chairman, Congressman Glenn Anderson, 2165 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515.