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Despite its monthly update and web availability, the DOT Consumer Report published by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, remains largely elusive from the passenger trying to make a decision on a given flight. Now, it and other public flight information resources are being centralized into a new website that offers passengers an on-line index in what founder David Pelter calls 12 "pain points" in airline travel.
The new site, may do what passenger bills of rights, can't now that the Department of Transportation has clarified its position on the subject. The department in responding to comments on its Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on ground-delays, cited the Airline Deregulation Act as pre-empting state bills on the subject. New York remains the only state to have enacted a passenger bill of rights but that was being tested before the state's court of appeals last week. The ruling could forestall similar measures making their way through the legislatures of several states.
Regardless, InsideTrip.com, a new booking website, unveiled in test form last Tuesday, establishes a TripQuality score to provide "a true insider's view on how to buy travel." Established last year, the InsideTrip.com's rating service partners with Orbitz for ticketing and customer service. It taps into Pelter's experience as a leader in pricing and planning departments of several of the world's top airlines, according to the site. Pelter has also been involved in Farecast.com and Yapta.com. InsideTrip uses public records for the evaluations such as the Bureau of Transportation Statistics consumer reports, TSA's checkpoint wait times and Flightstats which gives information on an individual flight's on- time record. Still, it won't explain the all-important why some flights are delayed more than others including the fact that airline policies impose more delays on regionals than on their own flights. Related Story
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