Airline Executive Congressional Hearing
05-02-2017, 07:26 AM
#1
Gets Weekends Off
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Airline Executive Congressional Hearing
As we speak, several airline honchos testifying in front of congress about procedure and the passenger experience... Representatives from United/American/Southwest/Alaska... and for Delta??.... oh wait... too busy counting how much we lost from the ATL Irop while Ed was at the Masters.. we care about passengers .. for comfort+ we give half a shzit... business class we will bring you a drink with a fake smile.. first class.. we will give you a kidney if you need one... coach.. sit down .. shut up.. and don't make us call the cops on your ***... Once again... Eddie B fails to put up where it counts... *****... show up and own it... If it was a hearing about fuel hedge prices you bet his (off the rack) electric blue suit *** would be there.. next time you see a Porsche on the ramp.. see who gets out.. an old lady with a tight connection time??.... a veteran???.. hell no.. some billion mile dilllldo who feels the Porsche ride is his entitlement.. why does it take a youtube event to get airline executives to rethink customer experience... well done
Last edited by APMechXJ; 05-02-2017 at 07:39 AM.
05-02-2017, 07:30 AM
#2
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Posts: 1,410
Maybe we need open borders on the airplane too so those coach people who bought their tickets on Priceline can sit up front, get complimentary drinks and a ride in the Porsche 😳
05-03-2017, 05:09 AM
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Lawmakers are threatening to take legislative action against airlines if they don’t improve their customer service policies in the wake of a passenger being violently dragged off a United Airlines flight last month.
United, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines were all in the congressional hot seat on Tuesday as members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee grilled executives about their business practices during the first congressional hearing since the United confrontation.
“If changes aren’t made by the next hearing, I can assure you, you won’t like the outcome,” said Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.). “If we act, it’s going to be one-size-fits-all.”
Shuster said representatives from all the nation's airlines were invited to testify but those in attendance were the only "brave" ones who agreed.
In a sit-down interview with The Hill on Monday, Shuster said that he hopes to come away from the oversight hearing with a better understanding about whether and how Congress should intervene after United's action drew public outrage, which could shape work on an upcoming must-pass aviation bill.
“Seize this opportunity, because if you don’t, we’re going to come, and you won’t like it,” he warned the airlines Tuesday.
Airlines’ overbooking and bumping policies took center stage at the hearing as Congress considers a stack of new bills that would target those practices and strengthen consumer protections.
“Unless we figure out a way to guarantee that customers are coming first, you’re going to see more of that,” said Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.). “What kind of assurances can we have that there shouldn’t be legislation in place?”
Pushback against how airlines treat passengers has mounted since video of security officers dragging a 69-year-old man from his seat went viral. United said that when too few people volunteered to give up their seats for airline employees, passengers were chosen for removal through an automated process.
United CEO Oscar Munoz largely defended the practice of overbooking and bumping passengers to Congress, saying it helps the airline accommodate passengers when there are malfunctions, pointing to a recent incident in Dubai that allowed passengers on a canceled flight to get home sooner.
Overselling flights also allows airlines to compensate for no-shows.
United, which apologized profusely for its “horrible failure,” said it will now offer more compensation to volunteers, no longer remove passengers after they have already boarded and require airline personnel to figure out arrangements 60 minutes before departure.
But United has not changed how it determines which passengers are selected to be bumped, which Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.) called “unbelievable.” He said it should be based on the last person to show up to the gate instead of an automated system.
“This situation is a difficult one, because if someone arrives late because they delivered a baby or something ... it’s a difficult choice,” Munoz said.
Southwest, however, avoided the heat from lawmakers because the company has already agreed to stop overbooking flights starting this month. The airline said it was already contemplating the change when the United incident spurred it to move forward.
Other airline business practices also came under fire Tuesday.
Lawmakers skewered airlines over their lengthy “contracts of carriage,” which customers agree to whenever they book a ticket. The contracts — posted on the companies' websites — detail customer service, boarding and baggage policies, including under what conditions a passenger can be removed from a flight.
Lawmakers said that passengers often don’t know what terms they are agreeing to when they buy tickets because the contracts are so lengthy and too complicated for the average person to comprehend.
United’s contract is 46 pages and over 37,000 words long; Alaska’s is 67 pages and over 37,000 words long.
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), ranking member on the panel, said one of his staffers was able to get compensation for a delayed flight after printing out and sifting through dozens of pages of the airline’s contract of carriage.
“How many people have the patience to do that?” DeFazio said. “We need transparency and simple language in the contract of carriage.”
Every single airline at the hearing agreed to simplify and shorten their contracts to make them more transparent, with Alaska even promising to reduce it to a single page.
“Ours is too long,” said Joseph Sprague, senior vice president of external relations for Alaska.
Some lawmakers blasted the airlines — with the exception of Southwest — for charging baggage and flight-change fees. There has long been a push in Congress to stop air carriers from charging those fees.
“If you want a window, you pay extra. You want a seat in the front, you pay extra,” said Rep. Albio Sires (D-N.J.). “Pretty soon, you’re going to charge to use the restrooms.”
United promised that it would never charge passengers for restroom use, though it said other fees allow the company to keep airfares low.
But when pressed by DeFazio, the airlines admitted that there is no direct cost for the process of having to switch a flight. United has made $800 million in change fees, DeFazio said.
He said he hopes to “push, prod or legislate” the airline industry into improving the flying experience for the traveling public.
All of these consumer issues are likely to be debated in an upcoming reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, where lawmakers have vowed to push for new consumer protections.
“Don’t make us have to act and put [on] a one-size-fits-all approach,” said Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.).
But with most of the airlines making customer service changes on their own, it could help keep federal regulators off the industry’s back.
Every airline represented at the hearing promised Tuesday not to kick passengers off flights after they have already boarded, which was an effort that seemed to be gaining the most steam in Congress.
“The sense in the room was a lot of admonition to get your collective stuff together, you the industry, and you can avoid us, which I think is fair,” Munoz told reporters after the hearing. “If we don’t do what we said, then we should be able to stand up to whatever they might offer for us.”
-- This report was updated at 2:24 p.m.
United, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines were all in the congressional hot seat on Tuesday as members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee grilled executives about their business practices during the first congressional hearing since the United confrontation.
“If changes aren’t made by the next hearing, I can assure you, you won’t like the outcome,” said Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.). “If we act, it’s going to be one-size-fits-all.”
Shuster said representatives from all the nation's airlines were invited to testify but those in attendance were the only "brave" ones who agreed.
In a sit-down interview with The Hill on Monday, Shuster said that he hopes to come away from the oversight hearing with a better understanding about whether and how Congress should intervene after United's action drew public outrage, which could shape work on an upcoming must-pass aviation bill.
“Seize this opportunity, because if you don’t, we’re going to come, and you won’t like it,” he warned the airlines Tuesday.
Airlines’ overbooking and bumping policies took center stage at the hearing as Congress considers a stack of new bills that would target those practices and strengthen consumer protections.
“Unless we figure out a way to guarantee that customers are coming first, you’re going to see more of that,” said Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.). “What kind of assurances can we have that there shouldn’t be legislation in place?”
Pushback against how airlines treat passengers has mounted since video of security officers dragging a 69-year-old man from his seat went viral. United said that when too few people volunteered to give up their seats for airline employees, passengers were chosen for removal through an automated process.
United CEO Oscar Munoz largely defended the practice of overbooking and bumping passengers to Congress, saying it helps the airline accommodate passengers when there are malfunctions, pointing to a recent incident in Dubai that allowed passengers on a canceled flight to get home sooner.
Overselling flights also allows airlines to compensate for no-shows.
United, which apologized profusely for its “horrible failure,” said it will now offer more compensation to volunteers, no longer remove passengers after they have already boarded and require airline personnel to figure out arrangements 60 minutes before departure.
But United has not changed how it determines which passengers are selected to be bumped, which Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.) called “unbelievable.” He said it should be based on the last person to show up to the gate instead of an automated system.
“This situation is a difficult one, because if someone arrives late because they delivered a baby or something ... it’s a difficult choice,” Munoz said.
Southwest, however, avoided the heat from lawmakers because the company has already agreed to stop overbooking flights starting this month. The airline said it was already contemplating the change when the United incident spurred it to move forward.
Other airline business practices also came under fire Tuesday.
Lawmakers skewered airlines over their lengthy “contracts of carriage,” which customers agree to whenever they book a ticket. The contracts — posted on the companies' websites — detail customer service, boarding and baggage policies, including under what conditions a passenger can be removed from a flight.
Lawmakers said that passengers often don’t know what terms they are agreeing to when they buy tickets because the contracts are so lengthy and too complicated for the average person to comprehend.
United’s contract is 46 pages and over 37,000 words long; Alaska’s is 67 pages and over 37,000 words long.
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), ranking member on the panel, said one of his staffers was able to get compensation for a delayed flight after printing out and sifting through dozens of pages of the airline’s contract of carriage.
“How many people have the patience to do that?” DeFazio said. “We need transparency and simple language in the contract of carriage.”
Every single airline at the hearing agreed to simplify and shorten their contracts to make them more transparent, with Alaska even promising to reduce it to a single page.
“Ours is too long,” said Joseph Sprague, senior vice president of external relations for Alaska.
Some lawmakers blasted the airlines — with the exception of Southwest — for charging baggage and flight-change fees. There has long been a push in Congress to stop air carriers from charging those fees.
“If you want a window, you pay extra. You want a seat in the front, you pay extra,” said Rep. Albio Sires (D-N.J.). “Pretty soon, you’re going to charge to use the restrooms.”
United promised that it would never charge passengers for restroom use, though it said other fees allow the company to keep airfares low.
But when pressed by DeFazio, the airlines admitted that there is no direct cost for the process of having to switch a flight. United has made $800 million in change fees, DeFazio said.
He said he hopes to “push, prod or legislate” the airline industry into improving the flying experience for the traveling public.
All of these consumer issues are likely to be debated in an upcoming reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, where lawmakers have vowed to push for new consumer protections.
“Don’t make us have to act and put [on] a one-size-fits-all approach,” said Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.).
But with most of the airlines making customer service changes on their own, it could help keep federal regulators off the industry’s back.
Every airline represented at the hearing promised Tuesday not to kick passengers off flights after they have already boarded, which was an effort that seemed to be gaining the most steam in Congress.
“The sense in the room was a lot of admonition to get your collective stuff together, you the industry, and you can avoid us, which I think is fair,” Munoz told reporters after the hearing. “If we don’t do what we said, then we should be able to stand up to whatever they might offer for us.”
-- This report was updated at 2:24 p.m.
05-03-2017, 05:49 AM
#7
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Joined APC: Mar 2016
Posts: 128
I listened to the hearing, I need a hobby, the "committee" was full of members with a personal axe to grind with the airlines. Many were overwhelmingly under informed and clueless as to what actually happens on a daily basis. I was also unimpressed by the United CEO, at one point he stated that "I do not have a lot of airline experience" and was also uninformed about what transpired on their flight. It was a real Charlie Foxtrot
05-03-2017, 06:24 AM
#8
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Joined APC: Oct 2011
Posts: 534
"Lawmakers said that passengers often don’t know what terms they are agreeing to when they buy tickets because the contracts are so lengthy and too complicated for the average person to comprehend."
This is too rich! And lawmakers pass legislation that is too complicated for the average person to comprehend but airlines are at fault? Because people willfully purchased a ticket?
We are so far lost that turning around would hardly do us any good.
This is too rich! And lawmakers pass legislation that is too complicated for the average person to comprehend but airlines are at fault? Because people willfully purchased a ticket?
We are so far lost that turning around would hardly do us any good.
05-03-2017, 07:18 AM
#10
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Joined APC: Feb 2016
Posts: 1,237
Originally Posted by buckleyboy
"Lawmakers said that passengers often don’t know what terms they are agreeing to when they buy tickets because the contracts are so lengthy and too complicated for the average person to comprehend."
This is too rich! And lawmakers pass legislation that is too complicated for the average person to comprehend but airlines are at fault? Because people willfully purchased a ticket?
We are so far lost that turning around would hardly do us any good.
This is too rich! And lawmakers pass legislation that is too complicated for the average person to comprehend but airlines are at fault? Because people willfully purchased a ticket?
We are so far lost that turning around would hardly do us any good.
The public and our lawmakers are a joke. Their just accident chasers with
their cell phone cameras. Never do they try to stop an action just record
it for future viewing and compensation. Then create new laws and waste
more of the publics money enforcing it and raising airfare to pay for it.
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