You break a contract, you have to pay a penalty, right?
Well, so should the airlines, which all too often these days are bumping unwilling passengers off their planes because of excessive overbooking. In fact, the disruptive practice has gotten so out of hand that the overbooking rate reached a historic high in the first half of 2007, according to a recent South Florida Sun-Sentinel report.
Existing rules say airlines must compensate inconvenienced customers, but the amount is capped at $200 for a delay of less than two hours and $400 for longer delays. It's a paltry rate that hasn't budged since 1978.
Considering the harm wrought by last-minute bumping - missing a loved one's wedding, an important meeting or long-scheduled vacation plans, for instance - the compensation pales by comparison.
Then there's the industry's talent for getting around the rules - like requiring fliers to show up an inordinate four hours ahead of time to check in, or closing flights at the gate up to 20 minutes ahead of departure, even with scheduled passengers wending their way through the security line.
With check-in required to qualify for compensation, the unsavory practices mean many passengers are left out in the cold, marked down as a missed flight and cheated out of the damages due them.
The skies are unfriendly enough these days, what with growing complaints about excessive delays, flight cancellations and long security lines running rampant this summer. It would behoove airlines to reach across the food service aisle and agree to a more generous compensation program that endears themselves to the public, especially when their poor planning is to blame.
But barring that unlikely occurrence, the U.S. Department of Transportation has to stand up for the consumer and mandate better compensation. It's considering doing just that, floating four proposals to increase the penalty, perhaps even by tripling it, to $1,248 for denying a single seat.
Doing so, though, would represent a departure from the norm.
The last time the DOT adopted a consumer-friendly recommendation on the matter, the Aviation Consumer Action Project's Paul Hudson told the Sun-Sentinel, was "never."
That means the time is ripe for a change. And airline passengers have an opportunity to speak up for themselves. So far, more than 1,200 have, peppering officials with feedback on a topic that typically attracts no more than 100 comments.
