=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/c/a/2007/02/16/MNGGHO5PU7= 1.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, February 16, 2007 (SF Chronicle) Beleaguered air passengers want new laws/Recent storm delays leave angry cu= stomers seeking bill of rights David Armstrong, Chronicle Staff Writer It's becoming an increasingly common nightmare scenario: A jetliner full of passengers pushes back from an airport gateway in bad weather and waits for the OK to take off. And waits. And waits. And while the wait drags on, the passenger cabin overheats, the flight attendants run out of drinks and snacks, and the toilets back up. Many hours later, the passengers deplane -- still at the same airport, angry, disoriented and determined that this must not happen again. Ever. The nightmare -- played out most recently on Wednesday when a JetBlue Airways jet was delayed in New York for 11 hours during a snowstorm -- has led to renewed cries for legislation from Congress that would create a passengers' bill of rights. Such laws would spell out compensation for stranded passengers and lay out operational rules for airlines. Such efforts have been tried before, but have not gotten off the ground. Politically connected airlines have stalled legislation and convinced legislators that non-experts should not be in the position of dictating to aviation professionals how to operate aircraft in duress. However, with passenger numbers -- down in recent years due to the 2000-= 03 recession and 2001 terrorist attacks -- returning to normal, delays could become more common. And anger over such delays is growing. "It was the worst. It was horrific," stranded passenger Cheryl Chesner told the Associated Press after she and her new husband, Seth, were grounded on their JetBlue flight to Aruba for their honeymoon. The Chesners ended up simply going home to the Bronx. JetBlue Chief Executive Officer David Neeleman was the latest airline chief to bear the brunt of public anger, after 10 JetBlue aircraft were hit with significant delays at John F. Kennedy International Airport during Wednesday's winter blast. Neeleman apologized to the stranded passengers, saying they would be offered refunds and free tickets for future flights. "We didn't do a good job," a glum Neeleman said on CNBC's "Closing Bell" Thursday afternoon. "We did a terrible job, actually." JetBlue isn't alone. In late December, an American Airlines flight from San Francisco to Dallas was diverted in bad weather to Austin. The fully loaded plane was held on the tarmac in Austin for eight hours. There have been no delays of that type at San Francisco International Airport, SFO spokesman Michael McCarron said, but if there were, the airport could do little about it. "What happens after the aircraft pushes back from the gate is the government's domain; we have no legal control over it," he said. And how to deal with such a situation is strictly the airline's call, McCarron said. The previous drive for a bill of rights came after a Northwest Airlines flight was delayed in a blizzard at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on New Year's weekend in 1999. A bill was introduced by Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., but was set aside after airline CEOs swore to members of Congress that they would clean up their acts without federal regulators stepping in. Although it didn't lead to new federal laws, the Detroit incident -- much-publicized at the time -- helped spark construction of a new runway in Detroit to ease congestion, said Detroit Metropolitan Airport spokesman Mike Conway. "We are organized much differently now," he said, adding that the Detroit airport plowed all six runways and stayed open during a storm early this week that dumped 8 inches of snow. However, he allowed that should a plane ever get stranded again on the tarmac, it would probably not be possible to unload it and let passengers walk back. Airlines would be worried that the walkers wouldn't be visible in heavy weather -- and besides, there may not be stairways for use in unloading. "Most jetliners are unloaded at gateways," Conway said, "not on movable staircases, which would be icy and slippery in a storm." The latest drive for airline reform is being led by Napa resident Kate Hanni, head of the newly formed Coalition for Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights. She was stuck on the grounded American Airlines flight in Austin in December. Hanni said a passengers' bill of rights should require airlines to compensate stranded passengers 150 percent of the price of their ticket if they were delayed more than three hours. It should also require airlines to inform passengers within 10 minutes of a prolonged delay and explain why the plane was being held. One of the worst things about being stranded, Hanni said, was a lack of information; airlines often don't tell passengers what is going on. Such changes would require rewriting contracts of carriage -- Department of Transportation rules that airlines must abide by in order to fly. The Transportation Department, which oversees civil aviation, said Thursday, "Like everyone, we are extremely concerned about reports of passengers stranded on planes during lengthy delays. In that vein, we are reviewing this and other weather-related incidents." Aviation experts weren't handicapping the likelihood of a passengers' bi= ll of rights going into effect this year, but some industry pundits say a new law wouldn't do much good. "It wouldn't do a damn thing," said Michael Boyd, principal of the Boyd Group, an aviation consultancy in Evergreen, Colo. Operational problems are the root cause of monster delays, and legislation wouldn't change that, Boyd said. "How would that (a new law) help if you made 300 people walk across an i= cy runway?" he asked. "Or if an aircraft had to be diverted to another airport? If there are 30 aircraft and eight gates? What about security?" "That's el toro doo-doo," Boyd said of attempts to politicize the issue. "It's grandstanding beloved of certain denizens of the Washington deep." The Business Travel Coalition, a nonprofit association of corporate trav= el planners headquartered in Radnor, Pa., also opposes a passengers' bill of rights. "Some proposals currently being discussed call for penalties for canceled flights," the BTC noted in a Feb. 2 statement. "Commingling financial penalties with airline operations and decisions relating to go/no-go decisions would lead to a reduction of current safety margins. "If airline passenger rights legislation were to become law," the coalition continued, "it would be added to by members of Congress in tight re-election races in each election cycle. Every harebrained idea would end up in legislation of this sort." Resources Web sites for stranded passengers: -- www.dot.gov -- www.strandedpassengers.blogspot.com -- www.jetblue.com E-mail David Armstrong at davidarmstrong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx --------------= -------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2007 SF Chronicle