12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, April 21, 2007

By SUDEEP REDDY / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]

WASHINGTON – The Transportation Department is taking aim at deceptive scheduling practices by some airlines, targeting carriers that operate chronically delayed flights and mask the problems to passengers.

A Bush administration official disclosed the inquiry at a House aviation hearing Friday, after lawmakers lashed out about lax oversight and penalties against carriers with long-running customer service problems.

The Transportation Department says it's in proceedings with eight airlines to assess whether they properly report on-time performance statistics upon customer request, as is required. The latest investigation would look at the larger question of whether airlines are presenting unrealistic schedules to passengers.

"We want to understand ... how it is possible that a flight could be late 70 or 80 percent of the time and actually not disclose that inadequate rate to the customer," said Andrew Steinberg, assistant secretary of transportation for aviation and international affairs.

Lawmakers took on the industry after months of pressure from passenger and consumer groups to enact an airline passenger bill of rights that would require carriers to let passengers off a grounded plane.

Complaints followed several high-profile cases of passengers being stranded inside planes parked for six hours or more at airports in Texas and New York.

Weather disruptions created some of the biggest customer service disasters for Fort Worth-based American Airlines Inc. and JetBlue Airways Corp. American, which diverted 121 flights during a Dec. 29 storm, issued apologies and vouchers to thousands of customers and changed some of its policies.

JetBlue also compensated passengers and created its own customer bill of rights. But JetBlue founder David Neeleman appealed to lawmakers not to create new rules because they could cause even more problems during bad weather.

In 1999, the airline industry fought off lawmakers' efforts to enact a bill of rights by offering a voluntary plan. Some of the initiatives were carried out before attention turned to the industry's security and financial crises after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The number of scheduled flights has dropped to 7.6 million last year from 8.1 million in 2000. At the same time, the number of passengers increased 7 percent, Calvin Scovel, the Transportation Department's inspector general, said in his testimony.

That capacity reduction, combined with higher demand, is expected to put more pressure on the industry this summer.

In the first two months of this year, almost a third of all flights were delayed, canceled or diverted, Mr. Scovel said. Last year, it was about 23 percent.

Mr. Scovel said carriers should tell passengers during booking, without being asked, that a flight has been consistently delayed – for 30 minutes or more – or canceled at least 40 percent of the time the previous month. Airlines now are required to disclose on-time performance only on request.

After retaking Congress, some Democratic lawmakers appear to be showing less patience for what they see as unmet promises by the industry and oversight failures by the Transportation Department and Federal Aviation Administration.

Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., who chairs the House Transportation Committee, recalled a hearing a decade ago that revealed 57 flights were regularly scheduled for departure at 7 a.m. from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

"No airport in the world could depart 57 flights at the same time," he said. "I sign up for a 7 o'clock flight knowing it's not going to leave until 8? Baloney."

Committee leaders warned airlines that if they don't demonstrate improvements in the coming months, other lawmakers might use the consumer backlash to propose rules.

"Unless the industry addresses this and addresses it now, there is going to be congressional action," said Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill., chairman of the House aviation subcommittee. "There is no question about it."