No more hidden fees slapped onto your airfare?
No more being stuck on the tarmac for five or six hours, waiting for that flight to Rome or Beijing or Delhi to take off?
Nearly twice as much money from the airline if you're involuntarily bumped from an overbooked flight?
And - a refund on the checked-luggage charge if the airline loses your bag?
A slate of protections for airline passengers went into effect this week, designed to shield the flying public from unfair and deceptive practices.
"These new rules represent a sea change in terms of how airline consumers are treated and how airlines operate - they are the product of relentless grassroots advocacy by everyday people from across the country that make up the Flyers Rights movement" said Kate Hanni, president of flyersrights.org, in a prepared statement when the rules were published.
The U.S. Department of Transportation took action to strengthen the rights of air travelers when flights are over-sold, canceled or delayed, to ensure that they have accurate and adequate information to make informed decisions when selecting flights, and to ensure responsiveness to consumer complaints, says the notice announcing the rules in the Federal Register.
But not all of the overhauls embraced and adopted in April took effect Tuesday.
Delayed until January will be the prompt-notification-of-flight-delays-and-cancellations requirement, and the cancel-a-reservation-without-penalty-within-24-hours requirement, among others.
The requirement that all heretofore hidden - or "ancillary" - fees be listed in one place, linked from each carrier's home page, is the one that'll mean the most to consumers right now, consumer groups say.
"The reason for this requirement is that Department considers it too difficult currently for consumers to effectively comparison shop and determine the total cost for travel, including ancillary fees for optional services," the DOT says. "Not all carriers provide information regarding charges for various services, such as seat assignments, extra leg room, priority boarding, telephone reservations, and seat upgrades in a centralized location so that it is easily accessible for the consumer to review prior to purchase.
"The Department considers it to be unfair and deceptive to charge an ancillary fee to a consumer, when that consumer had no simple, practical, and reasonable way of knowing about the fee prior to purchasing the ticket. Having a single listing of all of the ancillary fees that a carrier charges for optional services allows the consumer access to greater information without unduly burdening the carrier or stifling the carrier's need to compete on such services."
Passenger-rights groups like the changes, but the airline industry say they will add costs that could lead to higher ticket prices and more cancellations. A few airlines are challenging some of the requirements in court.
One of the big sticking points is so-called full-fare advertising, where the DOT wants the airlines to present fares that include all government taxes and fees.
"That flies in the face of 25 years of policy of having those separated," Southwest Airlines Chief Executive Gary Kelly recently told the Las Vegas Sun.
"You don't advertise prices at a state level including state and local sales taxes. So it's treating an airfare differently than other products and services are traditionally treated. So it's an unnecessary expense and burden on the industry and we're very opposed to that."
On Jan. 24, that rule requiring all taxes and fees to be included in advertised fares is slated to take effect, as well as rules banning post-purchase price increases; allowing passengers to hold a reservation without payment, or to cancel it without penalty, for 24 hours after the reservation is made (so long as it's one week or more prior to a flight's departure date); requiring disclosure of baggage fees when passengers book; and the biggie, requiring prompt notification of delays of more than 30 minutes, as well as cancellations and diversions.
Happy traveling.
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