By Mark
Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.Com
August 11, 2010
A new federal rule penalizing airlines for lengthy tarmac delays
resulted in a huge drop in such delays in June. Or it could be a
coincidence. You be the judge.
In June 2009 there were 268 reports of passengers stranded aboard airliners on the tarmac for three hours or more. In June 2010, there were only three, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
A month earlier a new rule went into effect imposing a hefty fine, per passenger, on airlines that keep their passengers on the tarmac more than three hours without the opportunity to return to the terminal. At the time, most airlines bitterly opposed the rule, predicting it would lead to a wave of flight cancellations.
According to information filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), a part of DOTs Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), the only tarmac delays longer than three hours reported in June by the 18 airlines who file on-time performance with DOT involved three United Airlines flights departing Chicagos OHare airport on June 18, a day in which the Chicago area experienced a severe thunderstorm.
None of the tarmac delays exceeded the three-hour limit by more than five minutes. June was the second full month of data since the new aviation consumer rule went into effect on April 29.
In May, the first full month, there were five reported tarmac times of more than three hours, down from 34 in May 2009. A subsequent DOT investigation determined that four of the five May flights were misreported by the airline. Corrected data will be available from BTS when the airline submits revised data.
The carriers canceled 1.5 percent of their scheduled domestic flights in June, equal to the 1.5 percent cancellation rate of June 2009. They posted a 1.2 percent cancellation rate in May 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 deplaning passengers, 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 said it will investigate tarmac delays that exceed this limit.
