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Dispute over new delay rule
TRAVELCONSUMERDAILY.COM THE US Department of Transportation is rejecting claims that a new maximum-three-hour tarmac delay rule in the US domestic market is leading to an increase in flight cancellations, arguing that it is “misleading and premature” to reach conclusions from data collected since the rule’s April 29 introduction, ATWOnline.com reports. A study, conducted consultants Joshua Marks of Marks Aviation and Darryl Jenkins of The Airline Zone, asserts that DOT’s rule hurts, rather than helps, consumers. Airlines that don't comply with the rule are subject to steep fines ant the DOT says the rule will prevent an estimated 113,441 passengers from spending an average of 3.65 hr. on the tarmac waiting to take off each year. The consultants’study cited statistics for May 2010, concluding that 1.2% of scheduled flights, or 6716 flights, were cancelled in May, compared with 0.9%, or 4792 flights, in the same month last year. The DOT, however, said that the cancellation rate in May was below the combined average rate for 15 previous Mays. According to the study, the rule will cause at least 5200 flight cancellations involving 406,000 passengers a year. That's a greater impact, the study says, than the estimated benefits. The study concluded that forcing flights with lengthy delays to return to a passenger terminal “taxes already congested gate resources and results in additional flight cancellations”. DOT cautioned that the consultants' studywas based on one month of airline on-time data (May 2010), far too narrow to yield defensible conclusions about future airline trends. Further, the data reported in May 2010 did not support the industry consultants’ claims about rising numbers of airline cancellations, DOT said. “Airlines know the rules and they know they have to take passenger protections into account when making scheduling and operational decisions,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “The Department of Transportation is committed to protecting the rights of airline passengers--starting with firm limits on tarmac delays--and no one should be misled by this unreliable study.”
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