NPR: Amid Labor Day weekend travel surge, airlines promise better customer service

September 1, 2022 Media

As we head into the last busy travel weekend of summer, several major airlines are promising to deliver better customer service, especially if they can’t deliver you to your destination on time, including providing meals and hotel rooms to those passengers stranded by significant flight delays or cancellations when those disruptions are the airlines’ fault.

The airlines, including Alaska, American, Delta, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest and United, are committing to the customer service improvements just as the U.S. Department of Transportation rolls out a new website on Thursday that will allow air travelers to see what they’re legally entitled to when an airline cancels or significantly delays their flight. They’ll also be able to compare airlines’ customer service policies side by side.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told NPR in an interview last week that this summer’s air travel chaos, with widespread flight delays and cancellations, is prompting the action.

While some travelers and consumer advocates applaud the administration’s effort to prod the airlines to improve customer service, some are wary.

“We certainly are holding out hope that they [the airlines] will do the right thing,” says Bill McGee of the American Economic Liberties Project. “But I think this industry has a long track record, and I’ve been around this industry myself for 37 years, working in it, writing about it and advocating for passengers. And I got to tell you, the track record is very poor.”

“Maybe some positive [customer service] developments” will come out of the dashboard, he says, “but the fact is, that is not nearly enough. … The term ‘lipstick on a pig’ comes to mind when we talk about this dashboard.”

He says all the things the airlines are promising to do should be required under federal rules or law so the airlines can’t backtrack and are forced to deliver on their promises.