Airline Passengers

The latest federal statistics that measure the performance of the nation's airlines offered some good news for passengers and some bad. First the good news: In 2011, the airlines set new records for the lowest rate of lost or mishandled baggage and the lowest rate of passengers bumped from overbooked flights. In 2011, the department received 3.39 reports of mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers, the lowest rate since the Transportation Department began keeping track of lost bag reports in 1988.

A legislative proposal to double the airline security tax is disappointing and shortsighted, an airline trade group charged last week, claiming that the higher ticket cost could severely hurt the industry as it  rebounds from the recession. The reaction from Airlines for America, the Washington, D.C.-based trade group, came in response to a budget proposal by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). Among other budget ideas, he proposed changing the so-called Sept. 11 security fee from $2.50 for every segment of a trip to $5 for each way, regardless of the number of stops.

The Times' Dec. 22 editorial on the federal government's rule requiring airliners that sit on the tarmac for more than three hours to disembark passengers was surprisingly astute -- surprising because the sensible observations and conclusions that The Times expressed have been so rarely understood or articulated in this emotion-charged debate. Ever since a very few but very public events -- in December 2006, February 2007 and then one flight this past summer in Rochester, Minn. -- many have made "fixing" this problem a cause celebre.

U.S.-based airlines carried 730 million domestic and international passengers in 2011, the highest total since 2008, a government report said Thursday. The latest statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics also showed that airlines flew with an average of 82.87% of all seats on domestic flights occupied in 2011, a record high for what the industry calls the "load factor. " On international flights, the load factor was 80.30% in 2011, the second highest rate for that category.

Responding to horror stories of stranded passengers, federal regulators say they will begin levying hefty fines on airlines that leave travelers grounded in planes on the tarmac without food, water or the option to disembark. The new regulations, announced Monday by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, require airlines to provide access to bathrooms as well as food and water on domestic flights within two hours of a delay. After three hours, passengers must be offered a chance to disembark.

A three-hour time limit on tarmac waits for airline passengers will soon become law, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said today at an unofficial hearing on airline passengers' rights. The Capitol Hill event drew both supporters and critics of the legislation, which would force airlines to create plans to deplane passengers after three hours and would require the carriers to provide basic services such as food and water while travelers are waiting on planes. "We're on the one-yard line today," Boxer said, telling the packed room that the long process of making the measures into law is almost over.

Continental Airlines passengers who travel through Newark International Airport will be offered free stationery and postage to write troops in the Middle East. "We're hoping a lot of people will take time between their coffee and boarding to jot a little note," Continental spokeswoman Andrea Pass said. The airline says 35,000 passengers travel through the Newark airport each day on its planes.

Passengers on commercial airlines can now check in a can of Mace or pepper spray with their luggage, but they face penalties if they carry the self-defense spray on board with them, the Federal Aviation Administration said Friday. The agency adjusted its regulations in response to numerous requests from flight crew members and passengers who said they want a means of self-protection once they arrive at their destinations.

A passenger on a weekend flight to Atlanta has been ordered held in custody on charges of assaulting four people. Hung Cong Duong, 30, of Vietnam was held after his arraignment Monday afternoon in Las Vegas. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 6. FBI spokesman Kevin Caudle said Duong was on a Delta flight from Los Angeles to Atlanta early Saturday when he became upset that a flight attendant would not serve him before other passengers.

Citing record delays and a sharp increase in complaints, leading Senate advocates for better airline service are unimpressed with industry efforts to voluntarily resolve consumer problems and plan to introduce legislation today to ensure passenger rights. "The airlines have had their chance," said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) in an interview about a yearlong industry initiative to boost service in key areas, including providing information on fares, scheduling and delays.

The latest federal statistics that measure the performance of the nation's airlines offered some good news for passengers and some bad. First the good news: In 2011, the airlines set new records for the lowest rate of lost or mishandled baggage and the lowest rate of passengers bumped from overbooked flights. In 2011, the department received 3.39 reports of mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers, the lowest rate since the Transportation Department began keeping track of lost bag reports in 1988.

New federal regulations aimed at giving airline passengers the true price of their tickets when booking a flight may provide some travelers with an unpleasant surprise. The new U.S. Department of Transportation rules that took effect last week require airlines to include taxes and fees in their advertised prices. But travel experts say they may have the unintended effect of reducing airline ticket sales by scaring away passengers with prices that suddenly seem much higher than in the past.

After years of rebuffing health concerns over airport scanners, the Transportation Security Administration plans to conduct new tests on the potential radiation exposure from the machines at more than 100 airports nationwide. But the TSA does not plan to retest the machines or passengers. Instead, the agency plans to test its airport security officers to see if they are being exposed to dangerous levels of radiation while working with the scanners. News of the test leaked out after the TSA issued a request last month to government vendors to provide wearable, personal dosimeters, devices that measure exposure to radiation.

Officials have promised to make changes before the Christmas travel season in an effort to prevent airline passengers from suffering the nightmare of being trapped for hours on a tarmac with no way to reach an airport gate. “We can move pretty quickly on this,” Federal Aviation Administrator Randy Babbitt said after a forum with airlines, airports and government officials on ways to prevent a repeat of an October incident that left hundreds of passengers stranded in Hartford, Conn..

With the busy holiday travel season in full swing, federal lawmakers, passenger rights advocates and airlines are squaring off over one of the thorniest issues in flying today: baggage fees. The bottom line is that you will probably get no reprieve from the fees any time soon. A Louisiana senator proposed legislation last week that would allow airline passengers to check one bag for free on each flight. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said the bill is meant to protect passengers from excessive fees.

More passengers toting more carry-on bags clog Transportation Security Administration checkpoints and frustrate air travelers, according to a U.S. Travel Assn. survey released Wednesday. "The recent trend of most airlines charging separate fees for every checked bag has resulted in airline passengers 'carrying on' substantially more baggage per person," the organization's president and Chief Executive Roger Dow told a Senate committee this month. "The increased volume of carry-on baggage is causing significant checkpoint congestion, negatively impacting security and causing significant strains on TSA personnel and resources," he said.

An Asiana Airlines jumbo jet from Inchon, South Korea, landed safely early Wednesday at Los Angeles International Airport after a passenger made a bomb threat early in the flight, an FBI spokeswoman said. El Cajon resident Young Kun Kim, 62, verbally abused flight attendants about 30 minutes into the flight because he was unhappy about his seat assignment, said Laura Bosley, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Los Angeles office.

For all the protest and controversy that arose during Thanksgiving weekend over enhanced pat-down searches and full-body image scans at airports, the Homeland Security Department is celebrating the addition of a security measure that did not draw public outcry. The department announced last week that 100% of passengers flying within or bound for the U.S. are now checked against government watch lists that are updated regularly based on the latest intelligence. The measure was recommended in 2004 by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 commission.

JetBlue Airways Corp. and AMR Corp.'s American Airlines could face huge U.S. fines after their passengers sat for hours in jets stranded on a snow-covered tarmac near Hartford, Conn., this weekend. The U.S. Transportation Department is investigating the JetBlue reports and "several other possible delays" but couldn't comment immediately on American Airlines. Under rules in place since April 2010, most tarmac delays at U.S. airports are limited to three hours for domestic flights and four hours for international flights, the agency said.

Smoking electronic cigarettes would be explicitly banned on all domestic and international commercial flights in the U.S. under a new rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Current federal law prohibits passengers from smoking any tobacco product on a commercial plane but does not single out the use of electronic cigarettes. Most electronic cigarettes do not burn tobacco but use a lithium battery to heat up a liquid nicotine solution, creating a vapor that can be inhaled to deliver the chemical directly into the lungs.