Leslie Taylor

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Ah, the joys of air travel in the deregulated era.

Almost 30 years after a law was enacted to revolutionize the airline industry and what do we have? Flight delays, cramped seats and a $2.50 Otis Spunkmeyer muffin "breakfast" on an early morning flight.

This is what President Jimmy Carter referred to when he promised "maximum consumer benefits" in removing government control and allowing the airline industry to compete in prices and service?

Surely not.

In the early 1980s, I worked in Washington, D.C., for a trade organization for the airline industry. Deregulation was in its infancy, and we watched its effects play out.

Bankruptcies. Layoffs. Price wars. Plunging profits and increasing red ink.

In a word, chaos.

Anyone who has taken to the air in this era has to wonder if deregulation should be declared an experiment gone horribly wrong.

A group of angry passengers who are lobbying for a national Passengers Bill of Rights to protect traveling consumers might think so. Other members of the flying public have latched onto the passengers' cause as an opportunity to reregulate parts of the industry.

On Dec. 29, the passengers were on American Airlines flight 1348 that was stuck on the tarmac at the Austin, Texas, airport for nearly 10 hours. The flight had been diverted from its intended destination -- Dallas/Fort Worth -- because of an unusually severe weather system.

The passengers complained of overflowing toilets, stagnant air, no food and no explanation for the delay.

I feel for them. I was on a flight bound for Dallas/Fort Worth that same day, circling above the storm clouds that hung over the airport. We diverted to Lubbock when fuel ran low. The plane sat on the tarmac for two hours before the pilot got clearance to make another attempt to land at Dallas/Fort Worth.

Once we did, my connecting flight was long gone. I spent the night in the airport, stretched out over facing rows of seats at a terminal gate.

My experience was a mere blip compared with that of passengers on flight 1348. I was peeved, yes; uncomfortable, yes.

Angry enough to demand protection under a "bill of rights"? Not quite.

The Passengers Bill of Rights aims to protect traveling consumers. The proposal would require airlines to return passengers to terminal gates after no more than three hours on the tarmac. It would impose penalties on airlines for losing baggage and bumping passengers, and require airlines to respond to complaints within 24 hours, resolve them within two weeks.

The passengers' wants are not unreasonable; some might even be too lenient. (Three hours on a tarmac?) A flaw in the proposal may be the absence of acknowledgement that in air commerce, safety has highest priority -- over convenience, over missed connections, over long layovers.

Still, safety concerns do not excuse the treatment of those passengers on flight 1348. Ten hours on a tarmac had to be excruciating -- and unnecessary.

The Passengers Bill of Rights proposal is by no means the first; other proposals have preceded it. This latest, however, has found a sponsor, Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., who intends to introduce legislation holding airlines more accountable when passengers are stranded by bad weather.

Does this proposal have merit? I went to my former employer, the Air Transport Association of America, with the question.

"A lot gets made of these incidents," said David Castelveter, ATA spokesman. "When these things happen people immediately call for action. Certainly, we're willing to listen and weigh in at the appropriate time, but we think carriers have made great progress in terms of amount of service provided to customers."

Castelveter also pointed out that 9/11 exacerbated problems that were plaguing the industry. "But now we see that carriers have adjusted," he said.

Straightened up and flying right, so to speak.

It was an airline industry response, to be expected from an association that represents all of the nation's major carriers. Yes, there may be tickets and boarding passes available online, flight updates sent to PDAs, fewer delays and lost pieces of luggage. But bottom line, inconvenience likely will endure.

A Passengers Bill of Rights, at the least, may help us better live with those inconveniences.

In the meantime, munch gratefully on that Otis Spunkmeyer muffin. Sure beats a bag of pretzel mix and some ginger ale -- "dinner" on a late afternoon flight.

Taylor is a member of The Roanoke Times editorial board.