Posted on 01/23/2023 5:28:22 AM PST by george76
United Airlines’ CEO said airlines are selling seats for flights they can’t staff — but Buttigieg hasn’t acted on state officials’ demand that he crack down.
The recent holiday travel meltdown wasn’t a fluke or a one-off — cancellations will continue because airlines routinely sell tickets for flights they know they may not be able to staff and operate, the chief executive of United Airlines told investors yesterday. The stunning admission from the highest reaches of the airline industry confirms a warning sent by state attorneys general to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg prior to the December travel meltdown.
However, Buttigieg — the nation’s top regulator of the airline industry — has not used his power to crack down on the problem, as those state officials have demanded.
In unusually candid comments to company investors, United CEO Scott Kirby said ongoing cancellations among competitors are happening because the airlines are advertising schedules they can’t actually fly.
“There are a number of airlines who cannot fly their schedules,” he said. “The customers are paying the price. They’re canceling a lot of flights. But they simply can’t fly the schedules today.”
Referencing the December travel meltdown, he added: “What happened last year, is what I think is going to happen next year,” adding that his own company's service was far more reliable, thanks to investments in staffing and technology.
Complaints against the major U.S. airlines, including United, more than tripled in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, as companies routinely sold tickets for flights they could not adequately staff, canceled the flights at the last minute, and slow-walked or withheld refunds while collecting billions in taxpayer bailout dollars.
The behavior prompted 34 attorneys general to write to Buttigieg on December 16th asking his agency to “require airlines to advertise and sell only flights that they have adequate personnel to fly and support, and perform regular audits of airlines to ensure compliance and impose fines on airlines that do not comply.”
The letter, submitted as part of the rulemaking process for a still-delayed consumer protection proposal at Buttigieg’s agency, also noted that the proposed rule “includes no provision that would correct this practice and that would prevent airlines from advertising and selling tickets for flights that they cannot reasonably provide.”
Despite the demands and subsequent holiday travel debacle, Buttigieg’s agency has been delaying the rulemaking process amidst industry pushback. The airlines’ top Washington lobbying group is currently seeking a public hearing that would further postpone a final rule.
The Transportation Department did not respond to a request for comment about the rule and the letter demanding Buttigieg act. An agency spokesperson told the New York Times that the department is investigating three unnamed U.S. airlines over whether the companies have been scheduling flights they cannot staff.
The American Economic Liberties Project (AELP), an anti-monopoly think tank that advocates empowering citizens and state law enforcement to sue airlines directly, has called on the Transportation Department to investigate whether airlines are collecting money for a service they know they can’t provide — a scenario that Kirby’s comments appear to corroborate.
“Ironically, we're learning more about canceled flights from the airlines than we are from the Department of Transportation," said William McGee, AELP’s senior fellow for aviation. He noted, however, that the department’s “complaint database showed that United was by far the worst offender on unpaid refunds dating back to the earliest days of COVID in 2020.”
Secretary Buttplug is incompetent
Could be that the airlines are sending male flight attendants to pay him off with, well, a butt gig? Ya think?
It also sounds par for the course for American businesses.
Butt Plug
The Secretary of Transportation is so incompetent that regular Americans actually know the name of the Secretary of Transportation!
That’s quite an accomplishment.
Oh come on, he is busy breastfeeding and raising kids. He hasn’t the time for nonsense like this.
The whole Biden admin is far left ideologues who are not competent to run anything. They were never chosen and placed to be competent.
This regime likes it the more things are screwed up. They just use the media to place the blame on people other than them. I would bet they actually pay others to take the blame for them at times.
The airlines must be paying off the government in order for this to continue there’s no other explanation. This administration seems to thrive on scams and payoffs. Anything to defraud the American people.
Apparently the airlines are incompetent too, if they need to have the government make rules on scheduling and staffing.
true, I just enjoy the opportunity to stick it to Secretary Buttplug whenever I get the chance!
lol
How is this not just straight fraud?
Seems like maybe consumer protection/ commerce should be involved.
This industry-wide disaster you see today is what happens when you’re catering to a customer base that would have been riding Greyhound buses, hitchhiking, or hopping rides on freight trains forty years ago.
Lots of people book seats then do not show up.
The airlines have it down to a science, based on statistics.
When you have a horrible computer glitch, it throws everything.
The author of the article does not understand reality very well.
I would say he pulled that one out of his @$$. But there probably is no room left.
Can you file a RICO lawsuit against the US Government? I did not think that was possible.
Perhaps some day, an airline will provide good service and make flying a pleasant experience. Wide seats, food, roomy overhead bins, friendly flight attendants, orderly boarding and disembarking. They could charge more. Some passengers would be willing to pay more. I know I would.
Pete is queer. That’s his only qualification for office
So the airlines are complaining they are not being regulated enough. They are not being told to not sell tickets on flights they can’t possibly send. A good business would handle that themselves.
Ha!
“...has not used his power to crack down on the problem...”
That would be federal overreach, an overreach that has not been exercised in the past.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.