{"id":900,"date":"2010-02-18T13:23:26","date_gmt":"2010-02-18T11:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ofcourseimright.com\/?p=900"},"modified":"2010-02-25T12:33:27","modified_gmt":"2010-02-25T10:33:27","slug":"airlines-motto-squeeze-now-apologize-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ofcourseimright.com\/?p=900","title":{"rendered":"Airlines’ motto: Squeeze now, apologize later"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Who’s getting squeezed?\u00a0 Of course we all are.\u00a0 with additional costs for everything, including seat assignments, baggage, and (Heaven help you) change fees, airlines are making money again, on our backs.\u00a0 One might think there would be an easier way to do this, like simply increasing fees, but for whatever reasons, it’s not the case.\u00a0 Southwest has always been on the forefront of charging for this or for that.\u00a0 It’s latest adventure into charging people who seem too large<\/a> seems to have gone awry<\/a>, thanks to the light shown on this policy by Hollywood director Kevin Smith. A spokesman told CNN<\/a>, “We want to assure everyone that has expressed concern over the situation that we will use this experience in our customer service program when training our employees on the correct way to apply the policy.”<\/p>\n

This discussion isn’t about the size of individuals, or even Southwest’s policy on large people.\u00a0 It’s about the fact that they were able to impose a policy, which until this point hasn’t really given them much grief.\u00a0 And why not?\u00a0 Many people agree with the policy in principle: you take up more than one seat and you should pay for it.\u00a0 The problem is, of course, in how the policy was implemented, and this is often the case.\u00a0 Often the result of poor training, contracting of services, or just underpaid staff, passengers are subjected to policy fabrications.\u00a0 A classic case that we have suffered is whether our FAA-certified car seat can go on board a passenger plane.\u00a0 What often happens is that it is<\/strong> allowed in one direction, and then we have to argue for it to be allowed in the return direction.\u00a0 Worse was when we were in Newark Airport and were told by a staff member that we would not be allowed to rebook our flight when a security incident occurred, even though Continental Airlines had stated on its web site that we could.<\/p>\n

And so what do the airlines do after such events?\u00a0 They apologize.\u00a0 They ask for our forgiveness.\u00a0 I would gladly give them that forgiveness, were it not for the fact that forgiving often doesn’t go both ways.\u00a0 If I need to make a change to my flight will they forgive me?\u00a0 If my daughter is ill and we need to reschedule our trip, will they forgive me?\u00a0 Of course not.<\/p>\n

The underlying problem is that individual consumers have very little buying power.\u00a0 Even large corporations get very little say in how airlines treat them.\u00a0 With market entry costs in the tens of billions of dollars for an airline, consumer protection laws are needed to keep airlines honest.\u00a0 Kevin Smith should be compensated for the poor service he received.\u00a0 So should people who are less visible, who are not Hollywood directors.\u00a0 America really needs the same sort of protections that the European Commission implemented in 2005<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Airlines may argue that such regulation hampers their ability to offer tailored services, or that it is simply too costly.\u00a0 It’s difficult to quantify the impact of such legislation as well, because airlines airline statistics in Europe are not easily available<\/a>.\u00a0 Still there is a moral need to address the problem.\u00a0 Agree?\u00a0 Disagree?<\/p>\n

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Should Congress pass a Passengers' Bill of Rights to curb airline abuse?<\/strong><\/p>