Airlines’ hopes that the new terminal at Midway Airport would open this month were scuttled Wednesday during a meeting between the airlines and the Chicago Aviation Department.
In no uncertain terms, Erin O’Donnell, deputy commissioner of aviation and Midway’s manager, told the airlines that the terminal would not be ready for their use until March 7.
“We’ve never set an exact date” for the opening, said Monique Bond, a spokeswoman for the Aviation Department.
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“We always said the terminal would open in the spring. It was the airlines that had this date of Feb. 27 or 28.”
“One week is not going to make a difference,” Bond added.
Tell that to the passengers who have had to endure months of disruptions and missed flights because construction has delayed their arrival at the Southwest Side airport.
No more delays: Fed up with the airlines’ inability to provide better service, the leadership of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is moving to force them to improve or face breach of contract lawsuits.
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) have banded together to sponsor legislation that requires the U.S. Department of Transportation to pay more attention to customer service. At the same time, the legislation–in addition to requiring that the airline’s customer service plans be made a part of each ticket contract–would force the nation’s airlines to disclose their on-time performance at the time a customer buys a ticket. If the ticket’s contract terms aren’t met, a disgruntled passenger could conceivably file a breach of contract suit.
McCain is chairman of the committee, while Hollings is the committee’s ranking Democrat. Hutchison is chairman of the committee’s aviation subcommittee.
The proposals implement recommendations by DOT Inspector General Ken Meade, who warned this week that airline delays and cancellations, which hit record levels last summer, are going to get worse.
At the same time, Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.) says he is launching a parallel effort to find a solution to the over-scheduling tactic used by airlines to protect their markets.
“It was kind of news to a lot of people that there is no control over the airlines scheduling too many flights at one time,” Fitzgerald said. As a result, airlines will slate 20 to 30 flights to leave at the same time, knowing that only a fraction will depart on time.
“I don’t know what the solution is, but someone has to come in and play referee,” said Fitzgerald, who added that Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) has expressed an interest in working with him to find a solution. “This is nothing more than bait and switch, because the airlines know darn well that the flight is not going to take off.”
Meade suggested this week that airlines be given limited antitrust immunity to permit schedule coordination. Fitzgerald, however, said many senators would be reluctant to do that.
Oops: United Airlines is asking a few of its passengers to forget about the unbelievably low-priced tickets they bought last month for travel to Paris, Hong Kong, London, etc. That’s because the fares–$24.98 for a San Francisco to Paris flight–were unbelievable.
The airline said it mistakenly offered the dirt-cheap fares for about an hour on Jan. 31 before its reservation agents discovered the error. A total of 143 tickets were sold via United’s Internet reservation site at the super-cheap prices, according to airline.
The too-good-to-be-true price was just the tax on the ticket, said Chris Brathwaite, a spokesman for United, who noted some people who purchased the tickets already have completed their trips. Those who have completed their trips won’t be charged the correct price, he said.
Those who have not departed are being given three options, he said. They can pay whatever the fare should be for the ticket, cancel the ticket without having to pay the $100 change fee or purchase the ticket at the lowest-published price.
“We’ve contacted 36 people so far, and all 36 have canceled,” he said. To compensate them, the airline is offering free miles, flight upgrades or a travel credit.
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