The St. Louis Post Dispatch - Congress to the Rescue on Aviation Reform?

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The St. Louis Post Dispatch - Congress to the Rescue on Aviation Reform?

Philip Dine

After the worst summer on record for airplane delays, the topic of
aviation reform is front and center in the nation's capital.

Last week, angry passengers staged a protest on the National Mall, complete
with a replica of the plane they were stuck on for nine hours on an airport
tarmac in Austin, Texas.

Meanwhile, Congress began debating legislation that would give airline
passengers a "bill of rights" and help fund improvements at airports, including
Lambert Field.

"We are going through a period of historic delays and cancellations of
flights," said Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill., chairman of the House aviation
panel that crafted the new proposals. "We've seen more delays this summer than
ever before in the history of civil aviation."

Passenger horror stories began to mount even before the summer. The worst
occurred on Dec. 29, when 121 American Airlines planes were diverted in Texas
alone, most with extended delays.

Kate Hanni, her husband and two children were aboard the plane stranded in
Austin.

"It wasn't just the nine-and-a-half hours," she said Friday. "No one could
believe there wasn't a law they had to let us out."

Passengers on her plane dealt with a lack of food or water, severe medical
problems, a dog defecating in the aisle, toilets overflowing, bathrooms closed,
people urinating in their seats and passengers throwing up because of the smell.

Hanni founded the Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights, which
has grown to 18,000 members, signs up 600-700 new members each month, and gets
40 calls a day on its hot line.

Lawmakers who help set aviation policy haven't been immune from nightmare
flights.

A couple of months ago, Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-Mo., found himself in a plane on
a Washington runway in the middle of a lightning storm, waiting to fly to St.
Louis. For about three hours, passengers and crew waited for an end to the
lightning, which made it too dangerous to fly.

The lightning was too close for ground crews to inspect the plane after a
windblown baggage trailer smashed against the plane — yet the passengers were
left to sit there in the middle of the storm.

"We didn't know what was going on," said Carnahan, who serves on the House
Transportation Committee.

All the complaints prompted the House to pass a bill Thursday requiring
airlines to set emergency plans for extended delays, including providing
passengers with food, water, needed medicines and cabin ventilation, as well as
letting passengers off planes. The bill also calls for the Federal Aviation
Administration to set up a consumer hot line to handle complaints.

Mary Fagan, a spokeswoman for American Airlines, says the answer to reducing
delays isn't new laws but, rather, updating air traffic control systems.

But, said Costello, while many factors are at play, airlines should stop making
congestion problems worse by scheduling so many flights at peak times.

"At JFK in New York two weeks ago, between 9 a.m. and 9:59 a.m., the airlines
scheduled seven more flights than the airport could possibly handle under the
best of conditions," he said.

BIG MONEY AT STAKE

The debate now moves to the Senate. Although passenger rights are the most
visible issue, the legislation contains a host of other provisions that will
have a big impact on airports, airlines and workers. The bill renews funding
for the FAA, which runs out Sept. 30.

Lambert Field officials are especially interested in a proposal to raise the
passenger facility charge that airports can charge to $7 from the current
$4.50. The increase is key to plans for $105 million in improvements at the
airport.

"That is very critical for Lambert, because of the improvements we have now in
the architectural and engineering phases," said Lambert spokesman Jeff Lea. The
project includes the main terminal, roadways, signs, concourses, ticketing
counters, baggage handling, security checkpoints and creating a common arrivals
area.

Lambert has set aside $30 million for the project and is counting on the
passenger-facility raise to pay for the rest. The legislation's increases in
federal money for capital improvements will help Lambert with other necessary
work, Lea said.

Differences over funding for the FAA, as well as changes in the way the agency
settles labor disputes with the Air Traffic Controllers union, have led
President George W. Bush to threaten a veto should the House and Senate manage
to agree on a bill in coming weeks.

The labor provision, written by Costello, would send a labor-management impasse
between the FAA and the union to binding arbitration. Now, the FAA can declare
an impasse and implement its last proposal — an ability critics say removes any
incentive for the FAA to negotiate in good faith.

But Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., ranking member of the Transportation Committee,
calls Costello's provision a "poison pill" and a gift to "big labor."

Another labor item, shepherded into the bill by Carnahan, establishes "fair and
equitable" seniority practices when airlines merge. Carnahan said the provision
was prompted by the American-TWA merger a few years ago, after which TWA flight
attendants were put at the bottom of the seniority list and lost their jobs.

Copyright 2007 © The St. Louis Post Dispatch. All rights reserved.

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