Travelers United needs help making travel better for everyone.
Travelers United is a membership organization at the forefront of the battle between travelers and airlines. You know airlines want to treat customers like cargo. Operating out of Washington, DC, we have been the primary consumer force in achieving the passenger rights that airline travelers can rely on today.
Travelers United needs support. Join us and help fight the airlines in Washington, DC for better customer service. Your membership will include secure WiFi, a travel vault for sensitive documents, and a password manager. Members will receive approximately $150 annually for just $49 per year. This cyber security package is unique in the travel market. Also, their names will help us reach out to DOT.
Since arriving in Washington, DC in 2009, Travelers United has made a big difference for travelers. We are the only organization that focuses on travel from airlines to hotels and rental cars to railroads.
Tarmac delay rules.
Today, passengers can only be kept on board an aircraft for up to 3 hours after pushback or landing. Before that time, airlines were free to put passengers on board the aircraft on the runway.6, 8, 12 hours, or more. Passengers on planes waiting to take off were virtual prisoners. FlyersRights was the lead organization and did the heavy lifting, but Travelers United and about a dozen other consumer groups worked together to enforce the rule. Travelers United also worked with the American Society of Travel Agents, business travel organizations and other stakeholders to help advance the new rule. Later these rules were applied to all foreign airlines operating from America.
After pursuing the tarmac delay rule, Travelers United realized that a closer relationship with DOT was necessary to make changes to the rule. This, along with regular meetings with House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee representatives and their staffs and Senate Commerce Committee members and staff, began to bear fruit. In collaboration with the DOT, Travelers United began drafting a series of rules that the DOT will introduce into the rulemaking process. We didn’t win every point, but our results were exceptional.
24 hour rule.
Travelers United was the leading consumer organization in this effort. Our organization worked with the Department of Transportation (DOT) from the beginning to shape the rulemaking. We recorded comments. And, when the final decision was announced, passengers had the right to cancel the reservation without penalty up to 24 hours if the reservation was made seven days before the flight.
Full-fare advertising rules.
Again, this rule comes from a record of consumer complaints and Travelers United’s continued pursuit of change. Anyone who bought international airline tickets before 2012 may have seen newspaper ads with headlines declaring, “$65 Boston to London.” Sure enough, after going through the purchasing process, the lowest cost ticket between Boston and London was priced at $751 round trip. The only way airlines could advertise such misleading airfares was that they divided a roundtrip ticket by two and then removed all taxes and fees. The resulting “airfare” was ridiculously low. Since the new full-fare advertising rules came into force, airfares can be purchased at the advertised price.
Airlines had to face resentment due to both these rules. The airlines took the DOT to court claiming financial damages and First Amendment rights of freedom of speech. Travelers United, along with the American Society of Travel Agents, supported the DOT. DOT won the case. But that was not the end.
The airlines then petitioned the Supreme Court to allow them to continue misleading the public. However, the Supreme Court allowed the District Court’s decision to stand. Today, those protections are firmly in place.
Travelers like you can never be satisfied. Every time Congress takes up a new authorization bill, the airlines manage to get amendments into the House version of the funding bill saying that these rules should be removed from the federal regulations. So far, Travelers United has strongly supported consumer protection regulations and has managed to block any companion bills from being introduced in the Senate. However, the fight continues.
Here are other changes that upset airlines. Travelers United has been instrumental in creating these rules:
Flight and luggage delays. At last they have found a rule. However, the rule-making is not perfect. These are the first efforts by DOT to create standards for consumer safety.
Complaints. Airlines must respond to all complaints within 30 days and provide a concrete response within 60 days.
price increases after purchaseAirlines selling tickets cannot change prices and demand more money, nor can they increase ancillary fees,
Vehicle contract. It should be on every website and easy to read and find.
Code-sharing disclosures. As airlines have increased their code-sharing, the DOT requires them to tell consumers which airline is operating a flight. A passenger’s ticket may say Delta, American, or United, while the actual international flight may be on Air France/KLM, British Airways/Iberia, or Lufthansa. Today, passengers know which plane they are flying on.
Goods liability. Compensation for lost/damaged/delayed baggage for domestic flights is $3,800. International compensation is governed under the Montreal Convention international treaty rules. For international flights, DOT has specified that airlines cannot exclude liability for high-value contents (including, but not limited to, electronics, cameras and jewellery). Although total compensation for passengers is only $1,600, all contents of checked luggage are covered.
Travelers United is a leader in airline passenger and hotel guest safety.
There is so much more. Travelers United has been at the forefront of efforts to gain travel rights at airports. We’ve worked hard with the Attorney General, the FTC, and Congress to stop false hotel advertising, where they advertise room rates that are higher and then charge additional resort fees at checkout. We are working with Congress to develop a cruise line passenger bill of rights and to allow the FBI to investigate criminal actions on cruise ships in international waters. We are also working to use sustainable aviation fuel in aircraft. And, we are pushing to modernize the air traffic control system.
Travelers United could use your help. If you are already a member, please consider an additional donation. We have to donate a lot in these court cases. If you haven’t joined, sign up and receive our newsletter, secure WiFi, travel vault and password manager.
Travelers United is working hard to maintain and expand our existing rights whenever we find deceptive and misleading practices. Travelers like you are the reason we are successful. join us.
Please help us by adding your voice to ours.
PS: Your subscriptions and gifts are membership tax deductible.
Charlie Leocha is president of Travelers United. He has been in Washington, DC for the past 14 years working with Congress, the Department of Transportation and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative on the Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 to 2018.
