It Is OUTRAGEOUS That We Don’t Have Any Consumer Protections In America, Protecting Us From The Airline Industry’s Fuckery, Like They Do In Europe

(Disclaimer- this is a long blog. Turn back now if you don't like lots of words.)

Everywhere you look on the news, stories of horrific travel experiences, airline flight cancellations, and the backlogs its all creating are top stories.

Nate covered it three days ago, when news broke that Southwest was canceling 70% of its flights.

And like millions of other Americans, I dealt with it firsthand yesterday.

Actually, all week.

I was back home in Massachusetts for Christmas with my family. I had no problems getting there, I flew southwest from Midway to Logan last Thursday. Easy peasy. 

(Sidebar - Yes, I am formerly one of the big Southwest fans. Been flying it for years specifically because they've never given me issues, their customer service is excellent, and their loyalty program is awesome. I've hit companion pass status for like the last ten years so I get to have somebody fly with me for free whenever I want. I always board first, get an exit row seat with plenty of room, and since my schedule is kind of crazy, It's convenient that I can change flights no questions asked, no charges, etc. Midway is also a huge hub for them, and it's the most convenient airport in Chicago, getting in, getting out, security wise, and there's almost never a delayed flight in or out. Unlike O'Hare. Recently, I've been flying United a lot, out of O'Hare, and this is a blog for another day, but their customer service has improved immensely since they dragged that Asian guy off the plane kicking and screaming. I hit premier 1k status the past two years and get to get bumped up to first class pretty often. Which is fucking awesome. But United also let me down big time this week.)

I say all that to point out that although Southwest is the biggest offender in this disaster, they are not alone. Far from it.

Shit started to go haywire on Sunday night. I knew I was probably in trouble on Monday morning when I received a notification that I could change my flight to pretty much any other flight for no fee. (Gotta tip your hat to Southwest here for “letting you” change your soon to be canceled flight to another flight that’s definitely going to be canceled.)

I was watching the chaos unfold on the news and all the poor people stranded after the holidays. As luggage piled up in cities while its owners remained stranded somewhere else, people all over began forking over big bucks to rent cars and drives across the country to get where they needed to go.

This was great foresight on their parts, because this shit show was just getting started.

As of Wednesday morning I was bueno with my flight situation. I had been checking regularly, because I just knew there was no way I was getting back to Chicago smoothly. Around 2pm I decided to check and boom, cancelled. 

No alert, no text, no email. Nothing from southwest. Even hours later. Had I not logged in to check the status on the app, which was broken and still showed the departure time and gate despite saying canceled above it, I would have had no idea. 

Looking for flights later in the day was a joke. Same for Thursday. And Friday. All the way through Sunday there either weren’t any flights, or there aren’t any seats. And it was like this everywhere for lots of people.

Luckily I have friends and family that didn’t mind me staying another night. I can’t imagine the poor folks who checked out of their hotels, or left their families to drive hours to an airport, only to find out they weren’t going anywhere for a few days. Miserable.

I booked another flight on American for the next morning and requested a refund from southwest. 

For some reason the flight was booked by American but operated by Jet Blue. Which isn’t uncommon, it’s just a clusterfuck when American is in B terminal and Jet Blue is in C, and the people at the desks have no clue who’s responsible for ticketing you.

I walked back and forth 4 times (good work out, not complaining, plus I got to explore some cool stuff like this Massachusetts movie wing)- 

before finally being told none of it mattered because that flight was now canceled.

I scrambled to get on the apps to find another flight. I checked kayak (a flight aggregator search engine) and there was fucking zilch. A few first class flights on united for $1,900 and that was about it.

I checked Jet Blue’s app and they actually had a seat available on a flight that night. I tried to scoop it up for $380 but when I was checking out it stalled out and kicked me back to the beginning. I raced to get back to secure the flight and was able to, except the same flight was now $550. Fucking sheisters.

And they weren't the only ones…

I camped out at Logan for another 5 hours waiting for the flight. Did some reading, banged out a couple blogs, worked on some music stuff, had a nice dinner at the Lucca outpost they have there. Everywhere I went, I couldn’t help but notice all the people, 99% women, crying everywhere. 

People were at their fucking breaking points.  Outside of security by all the ticket counters, and even past security near all the gates. 

The airline debacle of 2022 (our second now don’t forget), had broken an awful lot of people, and ruined their holidays. 

So why isn’t anybody held responsible for this? That’s what I wanted to find out.

I know when I fly to and from Europe, even the fucking shittiest airlines like Al-Italia are lights years better at staying on schedule, down to the minute almost. They get you on, get you up, get you down, and get you off. All nice and fast. Because if they don’t, they’re held financially liable and responsible for paying you, the paying customer, for their incompetence and interfering with your time.

A pretty novel concept yah?

This law, named EC Regulation No. 261/2004, passed in 2004 almost immediately began protecting consumers, and put the European airline industry in check. Real fuckin quick. Because look at the penalties -

Source - If your flight is canceled fewer than 14 days before departure, or if it is delayed three hours or more, and the delay or cancellation was within the airline’s “reasonable” control, you can receive 250 euros for flights of up to 1,500 km (932 miles), 400 euros for flights within the EU of more than 1,500 km and for all other flights between 1,500 km and 3,500 km (2175 miles), and 600 euros for all other flights. 

The same compensation applies if you are involuntarily bumped (denied boarding) from a flight operated by a European-registered airline (and again, it doesn’t matter if you bought the ticket from a U.S.-based airline).

What even some seasoned travelers who have heard about EU 261 may not realize is that the rule has been amended to include not just travel from Europe, but travel on any European-operated aircraft from the U.S. as well. And it also applies not just to travel to or from Europe but, say, on a flight from Los Angeles to Tahiti on Air France, or on Norwegian from Guadeloupe in the Caribbean to Boston or New York. 

As long as you’re scheduled to fly via a European-based airline, no matter what airline you bought your ticket on, you’re covered.

In addition, you’re guaranteed the following:

•    meals and refreshments vouchers in reasonable relation to the waiting time, provided it won’t further delay departure of the flight 

•    two telephone calls, telex or fax messages or emails 

•    hotel accommodation and transport between the airport and hotel (if you’re offered a flight the next day)

The big question, and point of this whole blog is, why the hell don’t we enjoy the protections here in the United States? (Spoiler alert- because our Congress was/is/and always will be a fucking joke). 

Usually, I’m totally against the government interfering in pretty much anything. Especially private commerce. After all, they’re capable of fucking up anything and everything they get their hands on. 

But this situation is different. 

Partly, because the hot shots running the airline industry as a whole are a bunch of greedy bastards who care about one thing and only one thing - shareholders.

And, most importantly, because during Covid, they had no hesitations whatsoever in putting their hands out begging the government for (our) money. Yes, months after a record year for many in 2019, the same airlines who had been buying back shares of their stock to line their coffers, rather than reward their employees, or pay shareholders dividends, or, God forbid, saving cash, needed a bailout. A giant one.

Like the idiot guy or girl you know who lives paycheck to paycheck, yet always manages to take care of themself with the nicest everything, COVID put a screeching halt on their cash flows and they were all fucked.

So they did what all big businesses in America do. They flipped out on their lobbyists, told them to get their asses to Washington and get them some money, and to put it on their tabs.

And that’s exactly what they did. Like PPP money, it was intended to keep staff on payroll and keep everybody from losing their jobs.

US News - Congress approved $54 billion in three rounds covering much of U.S. airline payroll costs for 18 months that ended in September 2021. 

American Airlines received $12.6 billion, 

Delta Air Lines $11.9 billion, 

United Airlines $10.9 billion and 

Southwest Airlines $7.2 billion

Southwest got a $7 billion taxpayer bailout & will be handing out $428 million in dividends to shareholders.

The Airlines and their cronies in Congress sold this bullshit to us as "preserving vital national infrastructure."

Now what’s really going to piss you off is this was the same lobby group that also went out of their way to strike down a proposed bill that would have actually awarded US commercial fliers with a “bill of rights” of sorts.

There was once a bill proposed in Congress called the "Passenger Bill of Rights," which would've given passengers all these same protections available overseas under European rules; unfortunately for consumers (and airlines), the bill never got out of committee because of lobbying by major carriers like Delta and United Airlines against such legislation."

Now wait until you see this baby, from August 02, 2019. I can't throw the whole article in here, so if you want to see the whole thing click the hyperlink. 

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., joined Sens. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., this week to introduce comprehensive legislation that would expand protections for American air travelers.

The Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights requires airlines to pay at least $1,350 to passengers denied boarding due to an oversold flight, prevents airlines from shrinking their seats until a minimum standard size is set by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and requires that airlines immediately refund bag fees for damaged or lost bags.

“Excessive and unexpected fees, delays and cancellations, overbooked planes—almost everyone who has flown has experienced the need for an ‘Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights,” Wyden said. “For too long, the FAA has knuckled under to the airline industry. It’s time to stand up for the rights of all air passengers and against excessive airline fees by ensuring ironclad consumer protections for air travel.”

Wow. Seems pretty civil, common sense, and full of integrity doesn't it?

Not if these fuckers have anything to say about it.

The United States has no legal protections for airline passengers. because "the federal government treats air travel as a luxury service akin to a cruise ship or an amusement park, rather than as a public utility like water or electricity." Which is BONKERS. As such, airlines have no obligation to help passengers in bad situations or compensate them when they encounter problems—and they can change their policies at any time. 

Now, the dick rider contrarians in the peanut gallery will for sure shout, "hey idiot, we do have protections in this country."

To which I say, yes, technically. The United States has few federal laws on this issue compared to other countries around the world. In fact, it has no federal regulation of air travel and no law requiring airlines to compensate passengers for delays or cancellations. It also doesn't have a law requiring airlines to compensate passengers for lost luggage.

Instead, these protections are left up to individual states and cities across America. So while you may be covered by one state's laws while flying within its borders, there's nothing protecting you if your flight goes from New York City to Los Angeles—even though the majority of your trip will be over water or land owned by another state!

The U.S. doesn't need a federal regulation to protect passengers because current policies help travelers in bad situations, say airlines and their advocates.

"We think it's important that the consumer understands that they are responsible for their own safety," said Joe Schwieterman, director of the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University in Chicago. "That's why we have a system where you can check bags without paying extra fees." Any time you buy an airline ticket, he said, "you're making an assumption about what kind of service you’re going to receive."

After all, if you don't like the way the airlines are treating you, don't fly -- or take Amtrak instead, Schwieterman added: "There are plenty of other options out there."

(What a piece of shit)

As anybody who has lost luggage with anything expensive in it, or had multiple flights cancelled to the point they have to rebook another airline and eat it, will tell you, trying to actually take on the airlines to seek reimbursement is a bear. They stall you and basically wait you out hoping you'll forget or give up.

There's actually a case pending that could have major ramifications for us since Congress refuses to act.

Elliot.org - A lawsuit filed this month in a federal district court in Illinois accuses United Airlines of violating EU 261 by failing to compensate passengers whose flights were delayed by more than three hours. It’s the highest-profile effort to date to compel U.S. airlines serving Europe to adopt a more consumer-friendly interpretation of the law.

“United has repeatedly failed to compensate passengers as required,” says Hank Bates, an attorney in Little Rock representing two United passengers whose flights didn’t depart on time this summer. He’s seeking class-action status for the case.

US carriers have canceled almost 3% of flights and delayed more than a fifth by an average of 48 minutes, according to data compiled by FlightAware. That might seem insignificant but you gotta factor in the MASSIVE amounts of flights that take off each day in this country. 

Now, do I think what Bernie Sanders has proposed is the answer? Lol. No.

Sanders also called for $15,000-per-passenger fines for domestic flights that are delayed more than two hours and international ones that are delayed more than three hours for non-weather reasons, with the penalty jumping to $55,000 if airlines schedule and then cancel flights they know they can’t staff.

Bit extreme there Bern dog. Come back down to Earth one time for me, with something realistic though and let's go from there. At least this is a start though so-

Those were just a few of the sights from airports around the country last week. 

One of the more interesting things I learned, via my buddy Erik Z from Chicago, is why Southwest's system broke down so monumentally vs. the other airlines. 

As Erik so simply stated, its because while pretty much every other airline works on a "hub-and-spoke" system-

HowStuffWorks- Most of the 12 major U.S. passenger airlines in operation as of 2001 use a hub-and-spoke network to route their plane traffic. The words "hub" and "spoke" create a pretty vivid image of how this system works. A hub is a central airport that flights are routed through, and spokes are the routes that planes take out of the hub airport. Most major airlines have multiple hubs. They claim that hubs allow them to offer more flights for passengers.

As opposed to Southwest, who operates on a "point-to-point" system-

Arachne - Point-to-point transit refers to a transportation system in which a vehicle travels directly from one node to the other, without passing through a central hub along the way. The main advantage of a point-to-point transportation system is that it allows for greatly reduced travel time as each node is connected to each other directly, although it takes many different routes to do so. In a system with ten destinations, the point-to-point system requires 45 routes to connect all destinations. This type of system considerably reduces the risk of cargo loss—as organization and processing labor is spread between each node—rather than all processing occurring at a central hub. Because of this, a point-to-point network is most beneficial when each node has the facilities necessary to process cargo, albeit on a smaller scale.

You can see why shit snowballed and spiraled out of control as it did once Sunday and Monday got completely screwed up. Not having planes where they needed to be, and being to cheap to fly "deadhead" to where they needed to get to just exacerbated the shit out of an already massive situation. 

Such a bad look for a company with so much public good-will and customer loyalty built up through the years.

For those who had serious issues where they ended up having to spend huge amounts of money because of Southwest, or another airline's incompetence, here is some advice I found about getting reimbursed.

Until we have real laws in the country protecting us, the consumer, from the airline industry bending us over, we're just going to have to continue to grin and bare it sadly. Hang in there.