FlyersRights Announces More Victories for Consumers Thanks to Tarmac Delay Rule in March
Cancellations down from March 2009
NAPA VALLEY, Calif., May 10, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. Department of Transportation today released it's Air Travel Consumer Report for March 2011 finding that March was the fourth month out of the last six that the nation's airlines reported no tarmac delays of more than three hours. March 2010, the carriers reported 25 tarmac delays longer than three hours. Carriers also reported a significant decrease in the rate of canceled flights in March compared to a year earlier and an astronomical decrease in cancellations as compared to March 2009.
"FlyersRights is thrilled with the proven efficacy of the 3-hour rule. Our hotline no longer rings with passengers stuck inside hot sweaty metal tubes on the tarmac for domestic flights.... that's a victory!" "The airlines predicted a virtual Armageddon in flight cancellations related to the 3-hour rule, but March to March numbers show a different picture; the rule is working perfectly."
Data showed there have been only 16 total tarmac delays of more than three hours reported from May 2010 through March 2011 by the airlines that file on-time performance data with DOT, compared to 689 reported from May 2009 through March 2010. In March, the carriers also reported that .0300 percent of their scheduled flights had tarmac delays of two hours or more, down from the .0400 percent reported in February 2011.
March was the 11th full month of data since the new aviation consumer rule went into effect on April 29, 2010. The new rule prohibits U.S. airlines operating domestic flights from permitting an aircraft to remain on the tarmac for more than three hours without permitting passengers to deplane, with exceptions allowed only for safety or security or if air traffic control advises the pilot in command that returning to the terminal would disrupt airport operations. The Department will investigate tarmac delays that exceed this limit.
Cancellations
During March, the carriers canceled 1.3 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, compared to 1.5 percent in March 2010 and 4.9 percent in February 2011. "ATA, Airlines and their 'experts' have compared 2009 cancellations to 2010 and 2011 cancellations in an effort to dissuade Congress from passing more stringent language in the FAA Modernization Bill, but 2009 cancellations for March were 2.10 percent of their scheduled domestic flights.... that's a huge decrease in cancellations of .8% or equivalent to a reduction in cancellations of 4,459 flights."
There were 16 canceled flights with tarmac delays of more than two hours in March 2011, down from 35 in March 2010.
FlyersRights.org is the largest non-profit airline passenger's rights group in the world with 33,000 members Nationwide. Toll free hotline 1-877-359-3776.
SOURCE FlyersRights.org
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