msnbc   |  June 02, 2010

Bumping fliers could cost airlines more

NBC's Tom Costello reports the Transportation Dept. has unveiled a new list of penalties for airlines that involuntarily bump travelers from flights.

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>>> transformed my investing.

>>> welcome back. minutes ago, the transportation department announced new proposals that would raise the penalty that airlines must pay passengers if they are bumped from a flight. the fees are raised by over $100. tom costello is in washington and has the details on this is changes which might make people feel better when they're bumped from a flight, tom.

>> we have a whole list of proposed changes that the transportation department wants to essentially impose on the airlines . the first one is if you are involuntarily bumped, in other words, not having for volunteers and we'll give you a voucher, the airlines must pay you for that inconvenience. and now the range of jumps from $400 to see 800 up to $650 to $1,300, depending on how long you're going to be inconvenienced, essentially they are taking the rules and taking into account the consumer price index , inflation, essentially. so that is a dramatic change if you are involuntarily bumped. they're going to insist that airlines allow passengers to make or cancel a reservation within 24 hours without penalty. in other words, you make a reservation, you buy the ticket and you cancel it within 24 hours , you should not be paying a penalty, according to the d.o.t. they're saying the airlines must provide full disclosure on all the fees when you buy an airline ticket . if it's advertised on the web, tv, newspapers, whatever, they must disclose all fees. there cannot be any hidden fees. and lastly, the d.o.t. is asking for the input on the flying public. this may be controversial. should the transportation order the airlines not to provide any peanuts or peanut butter on planes because of the risk of peel with peanut allergies . so the d.o.t. asking for input, should we ban peanuts on airlines . all of this is under consideration. the d.o.t. will take in this public review period. and the earliest all of this could take effect would be in the fall.

>> tom, thank you very much.

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