Passengers of U.S. airlines arent the only ones demanding an end to the cycle of delays, cancellations, tarmac holds, lost luggage, and poor communication tendencies.
Europeans are in the same boat -- or perhaps wish they were in a boat, a train, or a car.
Anything but an airplane.
Roiled by repeated complaints from consumers on the other side of the Atlantic, the 27-member European Union has given member states six months to comply with passenger protection rules.
If they dont enforce those rules, which were enacted two years ago, legal actions may follow.
The country with the most complaints is Great Britain, where more than 6,000 passengers went on record between February 2005 and September 2006.
According to Jacques Barrot, the EUs Transport Commissioner, several member countries do not have specific offices to handle complaints. Even those that do, he said, are obligated to require responses from airlines.
In an official report, the EU stated that too many complaints received no answer, while others were answered poorly by carriers.
In the United States, legislation designed to enact a Passenger Bill of Rights was introduced after wild winter weather caused a myriad of diversions, delays, and cancellations.
At least two planes left without their passengers after being diverted to other cities, while several airlines left planes idling for up to 10 hours on icy runways.
During a Feb. 14 ice storm, nine JetBlue planes sat for hours on the JFK runway and US Airways encountered a luggage snafu that enveloped its Philadelphia hub. Both carriers needed almost a full week to recover.
