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travellots

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travellots
June 9, 2010 5:50 pm

I feel all airlines should be required to include one free checked bag up to 50 pounds per person per ticket. Anyone traveling by air is usually going somewhere where they need to bring luggage. Airplanes, in general, are not “commuter” vehicles to go get a coffee or go to work for the day. Most people are going somewhere at least overnight and obviously can not bring their car with them on the plane! Also, I feel the more luggage “carried on” increases the security risk. The fees for checked bags encourage people to carry more on which increases the risk of something “harmful” slipping onto the plane. One free checked bag of 50 pounds or less is not unreasonable.

travellots
June 9, 2010 6:23 pm

All the proposed solutions sound great to me. Advertised prices should always include the total price (taxes, etc.) for any seller of a ticket. No one should be allowed to “increase” the price of a ticket once it is purchased. It is up to the “seller” to know what they need to charge for a ticket. If they are too lazy to keep updated, they should eat the cost.

travellots
June 9, 2010 7:16 pm

There should be no discrimination in how a passenger is bumped or compensated just because they may have paid less for a ticket or used frequent flyer miles. Airline tickets are not lottery tickets. One does not purchase a ticket hoping to reach a certain destination. Same as if one pays $4 for a cup of coffee or $1, the cup is supposed to have coffee in it. The price does not dictate that “maybe” you will get the product or service. Also, the airline decides what prices or miles are used to purchase a promise to get you from point A to point B. If they can not afford to give a ticket for that price, they should not sell it. When you reserve a ticket, the assumption is that you will be taken from point A to point B by the times given by the airline. A passenger does not purchase… more »

…a ticket just to see if maybe they can get somewhere because they have nothing better to do. If compensation is not high enough, the airlines will not have an incentive to schedule properly. It is not fair to allow airlines to discriminate against lower fared passengers or “free” passengers since it is the airline, not the passenger or government, who gave that passenger a seat. Otherwise, airlines can advertise low fares or con you into using them to build up your “miles” and then always bump you for someone who paid more. In away,it is the same as being able to increase your ticket price anytime after purchase. When you are bumped, there are a lot of hidden extra costs (unplanned meal purchases at high priced airport restaurants, shuttle or taxi fees because you missed your ride at the other end, increases in parking costs, etc.). It irks me that airlines seem to be treating passengers more and more as if they have nothing better to do but wait around in airports and not get to where the airline promised to bring them. Again, the airline sets the agreed price or miles for a seat, no one else. The incentives to the airline should be to get all confirmed passengers (regardless of price paid) to the destination promised. « less
citizen_s
June 17, 2010 7:52 pm

DOT’s objective in setting this rule should be to ELIMINATE all bumping, not merely achieve some (unspecified) reduction. Regardless of how many caveats an airline might state in its contract terms, passengers neither want nor deserve a ticket for an oversold seat. Bumping is a purely economic device that treats passengers as economic units devoid of humanity, like so many other aspects of airline behavior.

From that objective, it follows that there should be NO cap on compensation and that the financial penalty to the airline should be strong enough to prevent bumping, not just keep it at some arbitrarily “acceptable” level. The 100% of the total ticket price for expected arrival within 2 hours later is reasonable. Compensation for a longer delay should be the GREATER of… more »

…200% of the total ticket cost or the passenger’s demonstrable out-of-pocket costs resulting from the delay (a) including any higher priced air ticket from the same or another carrier at the same class, and lodging, meals and incidentals at average prevailing prices in that metro area, and (b) with the obligation on the passenger to minimize those costs by arranging, with good faith help from the airline, an alternate flight or other means to get him or her to the destination as soon as reasonably practical. « less

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