To TIME business reporter Julie Rawe, the whole thing smacks of window dressing. "These things are superficial theyre supposed to make life easier for customers when their plane is late or their flight is canceled," she says. "But the big problem is that one in four planes is late. Fix that, and you dont need the cosmetics." Fixing that, however, means both costly overhauls for the airlines and slow-in-arriving upgrades of outdated FAA equipment. "Until then," she adds, "the airlines can hand out all the lollipops they want. But people are still waiting. Planes are still overbooked." United did promise to fill one need that ranked high in passenger-satisfaction requests: instituting a toll-free line for customer complaints. Let's hope it doesn't have a busy signal.
Flight Delayed? Wait In Our Friendlier Airport
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Three months after admitting they have a serious customer-satisfaction problem and assuring Congress they could solve it on their own - the nations major airlines finally unveiled their self-imposed makeover on Wednesday. United Airlines will wheel out "Mobile Chariot" workstations during flight delays to help stranded passengers with rebooking, and will deploy 600 hand-held baggage scanners at its busiest airports to help find rerouted luggage. Continental promises a top-to-bottom "Customer First" program aimed at improving its communication with passengers. And thats just to name a couple - the Air Transport Association, the airlines' umbrella group, promises to have an entire "Customer Service Commitment" plan in place by December 15, despite congressional complaints that most of the promises are just a warmed-over rehash of existing pledges and regulations.