Senate commerce panel to examine airline mergers

Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2001 | 11:32 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

WASHINGTON -- American Airlines parent AMR Corp.'s agreement to buy Trans World Airlines Inc. will come under review this week from the Senate Commerce Committee as the industry faces passenger complaints and record flight delays.

Sen. John McCain, who chairs the panel, will review consumer effects in a hearing Thursday from transactions including AMR's accord this month with TWA. The hearing comes as Sen. Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, Monday re-introduced airline "bill of rights" legislation that may limit fare increases and provide consumers with more details on delays and cancellations.

"We need to take another look and see what's happening with airlines eating up other airlines," Reid said. "We need to make sure in the future that we have more response from the airlines than simply ignoring us as they have in the past year."

McCain's panel passed a resolution in September saying a plan by United Airlines parent UAL Corp. to buy US Airways Group Inc. for $11.6 billion was "inconsistent with the public interest" because rivals such American Airlines would be forced to follow suit.

Reid's bill would give the Transportation Department new power to prevent steep fare increases or service cuts resulting from mergers. Airlines also would be required to give passengers accurate and timely delay information.

Flight delays reached record levels last year, running almost 21 percent ahead of 1999 through the first 11 months because of storms and congestion at airports such as New York's LaGuardia, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

LaGuardia had the worst delay record among the 55 largest U.S. airports, accounting for 15 percent of delays nationwide, an FAA report said. After U.S. airlines added regional jet flights at LaGuardia this fall, the rate climbed to as much as 25 percent of nationwide delays. The mounting congestion prompted the agency to reduce flights there by about 10 percent, effective Wednesday.

An FAA report released Monday said Chicago's O'Hare International Airport had the second most delays, followed by Newark Airport, Atlanta's Hartsfield International and San Francisco International Airport.

The airlines could face other legislative scrutiny. McCain last year raised the prospect of introducing legislation if a final Transportation Department report on airlines identifies competitive problems and other difficulties such as delays.

In last year's interim report, DOT Inspector General Kenneth Mead praised the airlines' "genuine effort" to improve service, while saying they fell short of improving areas such as providing more timely information on delays. A spokesman for Mead's office said no date has been set releasing his final report, which was due last month.

The Air Transport Association, which represents major airlines, plans a news conference the day before the McCain hearing to release a "Top 10" list of improvements such as satellite navigation to cut delays.

"Until you fix the delay problem, you can only make modest progress in addressing customer service," said ATA spokesman Michael Wascom. "Delays are overwhelmingly the No. 1 frustration of passengers."

Wascom said ATA isn't planning to discuss consolidation at Wednesday's event, which he said is "separate and apart" from the hearing.

In the meantime, Reid explained his latest version of fair treatment legislation for passengers at a media conference Monday.

"Passengers should know they have a guaranteed set of rights when they are traveling by air and they should not have to suffer higher prices and reduced service as a result of airline mergers," Reid said.

Consumer and travel agent groups both cheered the proposed legislation.

Mark Silbergeld of Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, joined Burton Rubin of the American Society of Travel Agents at the media conference in Washington.

Reid's bill sets rules for smoother, more convenient flying as consumer complaints and unruly passenger air rage incidents are on the rise.

Among new items in this bill, Reid said the legislation directs the Transportation Department to develop a way for safety, inspection and accident records of airlines to be made available to any customer upon request.

If a plane remains at the gate for more than an hour past its scheduled departure time, and the captain has not been informed of departure within 15 minutes, passengers would have the right to exit the plane to make other travel arrangements.

Passengers would also have the right to in-flight medical care.

The bill would also clarify the right of consumers to sue airlines.