techie

Thank you to DOT for initiating this discussion.

I have a number of questions:

1) Why does the proposed delayed bag refund apply only to those who paid for a checked bag? Lots of passengers, especially in the frequent traveller community, get complimentary checked bag, so how shall they be treated in equivalent circumstances?

2) Since I notice that a lot of passengers travel with gate-checked luggage, what compensation do you envisage in legislation for those cases when a bag is gate-checked but does not travel on the plane for various reasons (usually mishandling by ground staff)?

3) How do you define "substantially delayed" in terms of numbers/metrics? Having flown from A to B in the morning, a hypothetical passenger may be catching a late evening flight back from B to A. Not having a checked bag may be of immense inconvenience, especially if said passenger was going onto a cruise and not flying back to A that night. Leaving this wording to be interpreted by airlines could lead to more bad than good.

4) What Service Level Agreements will airlines be forced to adhere to in terms of reuniting passengers with their bags? Next flight to the same destination (even if on another carrier)? Overnight courier delivery to an address of passenger's choosing? I do not think it is appropriate to suggest here that it is for airlines to decide and state on their websites for customers to then make a decision. There must be a uniform policy for all airlines. Should airlines wish to go above and beyond, especially for elite status passengers, THAT should be up to them.

5) When will DOT move to make it legally binding to require for airlines to compensate for non-TSA damage to bags? As it stands, if I am not mistaken, it is not mandatory for airlines to reimburse for bag repairs/replacements.

6) Why are travel agents currently treated differently to airlines in terms of the right to cancel a reservation within 24 hours for a full and prompt refund? From a customer perspective, a travel agent is no different to airline -- these days airlines even offer additional travel components such as hotels, car hire, etc like travel agents themselves do -- so both should be treated the same in terms of the minimum required customer service and protection standards.

7) What is DOT planning to do to tackle consumer-unfriendly pricing practices whereby a direct flight often costs much more than a journey that goes on to another smaller destination? For example, an NYC-LAX flight may cost $600, but an NYC-LAX-somewhere_small may cost substantially less because airlines wish to attract more passengers. However, this pricing model leads to unsavoury throw-away tickets being purchased and disadvantages those travelling just between hypothetical examples of NYC and LAX in good faith

8) Airlines benefit handsomely from being able to sell tickets in the days and weeks leading up to a hypothetical flight. To that end, what are DOT's thoughts on taking away airlines' ability to keep 100% of the fare (sans certain fees they must refund) when a customer wishes to cancel a ticket months from departure? Not only do airlines retain a substantial portion of the cost, but they are also free to sell that seat again at even greater profit while the customer is out of pocket.

Thank you in advance.