I have travelled more miles on Amtrak than Joe Biden and find myself on an airplane to and from assignments often. The majority of the time, gate agents are helpful, flight attendants friendly and pilots professional. Travel runs smoothly, which is why I'm happy to be on the road.
That isn't to say I have much sympathy for the airlines. I have zero tolerance for negative and unhelpful attitudes held by airline workers who have the ability to ruin your day just because they can. Airlines have killed dogs, broken guitars and, during COVID-19, participated in some of the most grotesque, dehumanizing, demeaning and unforgivable behavior toward passengers. For example, on a cross country flight, I witnessed two flight attendants repeatedly threaten to kick a family off of a flight — with a permanent future travel ban — because their one year old wasn't wearing a mask for hours on end. It was enraging and disgusting.
But despite the horror stories, and they are endless, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's latest regulations on the industry are a very bad idea. They are a threat to safety and will make flying more expensive for everyone.
"With the first rule that we are announcing today, the Biden-Harris Administration is now requiring that if an airline cancels or significantly delays your flight, within seven days they will be required to provide you an automatic refund to the credit card you used to book it – without you having to call or wait on hold, or sort through digital paperwork, or haggle with the airline," Buttigieg announced this week. "Importantly, we are also changing the refund to clarify that it must be in cash by default unless a passenger actively chooses another form of compensation, rather than the other way around. No more defaulting to vouchers or credits when consumers may not even realize they are entitled to cash."
"We are also putting another rule on the books: protecting airline passengers from being surprised by fees. These charges can really add up – for things like a checked bag, carry-on bag, change fees, cancellation fees," he continued, talking about fees that are already widely published by the airlines. "Airlines will now be required to show you those costs up front so you have all the information you need to decide what travel option is best for you. We estimate that this will save Americans over a half billion dollars every year."
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All of these things sound great, but they're too good to be true.
Over the past six months, the airlines and Boeing have been in a safety crisis. Whether it's missing bolts noticed by passengers, not the maintenance crew, or a door falling off in the air during an Alaska Airlines flight. To say the least, air travel has been questionable.
"The pilots union at American Airlines says there has been 'a significant spike' in safety issues at the airline, including fewer routine aircraft inspections and shorter test flights on planes returning from major maintenance work," NBC News reports about current conditions. "The union also says it has seen incidents in which tools were left in wheel wells and items were left in the sterile area around planes parked at airport gates."
Worse, a Boeing employee was found dead after repeatedly blowing the whistle about major safety problems at the aircraft company.
"In 2019, Mr Barnett told the BBC that under-pressure workers had been deliberately fitting sub-standard parts to aircraft on the production line. He also said he had uncovered serious problems with oxygen systems, which could mean one in four breathing masks would not work in an emergency," the BBC reports. "He said soon after starting work in South Carolina he had become concerned that the push to get new aircraft built meant the assembly process was rushed and safety was compromised, something the company denied."
Just two weeks ago, another whistleblower came forward with similar allegations.
The latest Biden administration rules will only make these problems worse by incentivizing speed over safety on maintenance issues. In order to avoid the penalty of refunds after three hours of a delay, crews will be pressured to rush solutions to problems — a recipe for disaster.
Further, the claim these regulations will save Americans money is a failure of basic economics. Airline tickets, which are already more expensive thanks to Biden inflation, will only increase in price – for everyone. The costs of the rules will simply passed to the customers. After all, nothing is free.
