She's quickly becoming the Cindy Sheehan of the airline passenger revolution: the wrong woman to ignore. Last December 29, Kate Hanni (47) and her family sat on a tarmack for nine and a half hours, toilets overflowing, only marginally potable lavatory water to drink, nothing to eat, diabetics going into shakes--the same nightmare that has been filling the news again this summer (See "Who's to Blame for Air Travel's Summer of Hell?"). And though she'd never even written a letter of complaint, she quit her job as a successful real estate agent, put her life on hold and took on the airline industry. Using Internet chat rooms, videos of stranded passengers posted on YouTube and a growing network of volunteers, she has gathered 18,000 signatures on an online petition supporting a passenger's bill of rights. Her congressman, Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) quickly introduced the legislation. The airlines fiercely oppose it.
What Is the passenger's bill of rights after the jump
Here is her proposed passenger bill of rights:
- Establish procedures to respond to all passenger complaints within 24 hours and with appropriate resolution within 2 weeks.
- Notify passengers within ten minutes of a delay of known diversions, delays and cancellations via airport overhead announcement, on aircraft announcement, and posting on airport television monitors.
- Establish procedures for returning passengers to terminal gate when delays occur so that no plane sits on the tarmac for longer than three hours without connecting to a gate.
- Provide for the essential needs of passengers during air- or ground-based delays of longer than 3 hours, including food, water, sanitary facilities, and access to medical attention.
- Provide for the needs of disabled, elderly and special needs passengers by establishing procedures for assisting with the moving and retrieving of baggage, and the moving of passengers from one area of airport to another at all times by airline personnel.
- Publish and update monthly on the company’s public web site a list of chronically delayed flights, meaning those flight delayed thirty minutes or more, at least forty percent of the time, during a single month.
- Compensate “bumped” passengers or passengers delayed due to flight cancellations or postponements of over 12 hours by refund of 150% of ticket price
- The formal implementation of a Passenger Review Committee, made up of non-airline executives and employees but rather passengers and consumers - that would have the formal ability to review and investigate complaints.
- Make lowest fare information, schedules and itineraries, cancellation policies and frequent flyer program requirements available in an easily accessed location and updated in real-time.
- Ensure that baggage is handled without delay or injury; if baggage is lost or misplaced, the airline shall notify customer of baggage status within 12 hours and provide compensation equal to current market value of baggage and its contents.
- Require that these rights apply equally to all airlines code-share partners, including international partners.
Sources: National Public Radio, New York Times
