Profile: sbarb95
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As a very frequent traveler, the biggest issue is not having updated information about flight status. beyond that i believe that adding all of these unnecessary burdens to airlines often of which they have no control such as weather and unexpected mechanical problems is both costly and ridiculous. you would think that with the economic turndown, our society would abate their temper tantrams and demanding attitudes. let’s be civil to one another and not set unrealistic expectations–it costs money to accommodate your pampering and often results in unintended consequences such as the recent 3 hour tarmac limit. this will result in more flight cancellations. i wonder how many of you who complained about that and now have gotten what you asked for, will see yourselves as the cause of this ludicrous rule.
Last winter I had to make two round-trips to an airport in a blizzard to take family members for a flight posted as “on time”. They had non-refundable tickets and saw no option but to go or lose their money. Seven hours later their flight was canceled. I feel that, in this case, the airline acted in their own interest giving no thought to the impact on the passengers. Surely they had better information. That said, I don’t have a suggestion as I don’t know enough about airline information systems.
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While notifying customers of delays as soon as is feasibly possible is an admirable goal, I wonder if delays of 30 minutes would actually affect passenger behavior. In my experience it usually takes about 30 minutes to get to major airports, in which case, killing 30 minutes at home or at the airport makes little difference – especially when security lines make you leave way earlier than your expected flight. Maybe it would be a better use of the airlines resources to focus efforts on notifying passengers of delays that are 2 hours or more as soon as possible.
One way DOT could help inform passengers of bumping process and compensation for voluntary (and involuntary) bumping is through the use of gate television screens. For example, at United Airline’s hub locations, they have television screens which clearly show the standby list, your place on the standby list, and how many have checked in. Adding another screen to televisions like this that indicate bumping may be an easy and effective way of implementing DOT’s new rule.