Airlines ordered to pay more to people bumped off flights

Passengers bumped from their flights involuntarily will get higher payments from the airlines under a federal rule that takes effect in May. (KIICHIRO SATO/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

WASHINGTON - Airline passengers will get doubled payments for being involuntarily bumped from flights and carriers would be forced to buy some landing rights at New York's LaGuardia Airport, under US rules announced yesterday.

The penalties for airlines' shuffling of travelers will rise to $400 if fliers arrive within two hours of their original schedule, and $800 if they don't. The rule, which takes effect next month, marks the first boost in the payments since 1978.

The bumped-traveler charge and auctions for airline access to LaGuardia, the nation's most-congested airport in 2007, are part of the Transportation Department's efforts to improve customer service after flight delays reached a seven-year high.

Airlines sometimes sell more seats than they have available, betting that some travelers won't show up. When planes are too full, airlines typically offer vouchers or other inducements to find people willing to delay their travel before bumping fliers against their will.

Carriers that serve LaGuardia would have as many as 20 percent of their slots auctioned over five years, under a separate proposal the department plans to make final by year's end. Proceeds would be kept by carriers or spent on delay-reduction projects.

The LaGuardia plan is "truly mystifying, with the airline industry in a financial meltdown due to overwhelming fuel prices," said James May, president of the Air Transport Association.

Passengers will have fewer choices and higher costs, and small communities will lose service, said May, adding that the agency's legal authority for the plan is "highly suspect."