THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

MARCH 4, 2010

Fliers who feel they've been mistreated by airlines may soon be in for a bit of relief. New government rules go into effect next month that will give travelers more rights—and maybe even more recourse—when travel goes awry. Additional passenger protections may be coming later this year.
The rules, of course, won't protect fliers from every delay or lost piece of luggage. But they will, among other things, heavily penalize airlines for leaving passengers stranded aboard grounded planes for more than three hours, require airlines to respond "substantively" to customer complaints within 60 days, and force airlines to publish data about delayed flights and face fines for habitually late flights.
So far, "passenger rights" have been few on U.S. airlines. Even with thew new rules, carriers are exempt from any state consumer protection laws and are subject only to federal statutes. The Department of Transportation fines airlines but doesn't act on behalf of individual consumers. There's no arbitration for disputes with airlines. And because authorities don't want to pressure airlines into unsafe operations, there generally are no domestic penalties for late flights or leaving passengers stranded, except for the new three-hour tarmac rule.

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