Christopher Elliott, a pro consumer problem solver in the travel business, has this excellent opinion piece about a drive on the part of several consumer advocacy groups to get recent FAA rules regulating airline behaviour codified into federal law.   His stance is that this isn’t something that the public has asked for and I couldn’t agree more.

I tend to be a bit more “pro consumer” in this blog myself.  The tarmac delays and some other behaviours needed to get addressed but these issues are, in my opinion, being more than adequately addressed by the current FAA rules.  In fact, if anything, I think we need to review the “3-Hour Rule” some time soon.  In my opinion, this rule needs to be lengthened to 4 hours and that is what I advocated originally. 

I think we need rules on baggage fees as well as other unbundled service charges airlines are making.  I think they should be oriented towards enforcing performance on the part of the airline charging for the service. 

There is no question in my mind that the recent baggage fee rule does very little to the benefit of the consumer since it only addresses lost baggage.  Nothing is being done about requiring performance from airlines on delayed baggage and that, in my opinion, is a far greater problem.

But making this stuff into federal law is a very bad idea in my opinion.  It doesn’t gain better performance from airlines and makes it much more difficult to change rules to fit changing circumstances.  Laws have inertia and that inertia can be very bad for the airline / travel industries. 

Making those rules *will* have the effect of adding significant costs to the price of travel and will *not* have the effect of making the experience one iota better. 

This is an answer to a question that has already been asked and answered plenty well enough.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax