Flying this summer was filled with frustrations. Millions of airline passengers had their travel plans disrupted or ruined by an airline industry that was not prepared to deal with the increased summer demand.
Just before Labor Day, the U.S. Department of Transportation responded to a mountain of complaints by launching its Airline Customer Service Dashboard.
The dashboard shows what the 10 major U.S. airlines (and their regional partners) say they will do for passengers – if possible – when a delay or cancelation is the airline’s fault. This would include maintenance, equipment, or crew problems, but not weather or air traffic control delays.
Consumer advocates call it window dressing, because in most cases, these are promises, not requirements – and they’re not legally binding.
“So, there’s really no guarantees to this,” said Charlie Leocha, president of Travelers United. “It’s not like having it as part of the contract of carriage, where it would then be part of the contract that you sign with an airline when you buy your ticket. This is from what they call the customer service plan. And it is not a legal, actionable item which somebody can actually take to court and say the airlines didn’t do this. They didn’t promise it. They just said they’ll do their best.”
Only Delta has included its customer service guarantees in its “contract of carriage,” the legal agreement between the airline and the ticket holder.
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Consumer Advocates Want the Department of Transportation to Fix Our Broken Airline System
