[Update: Sign The Petition!] If You And I Bail Out The Airlines, Hotels, And Boeing, What Should We Ask For In Return?

Don’t bail them out

I couldn’t agree more, Dan perfectly said.

dang those sound great

I agree Dan please talk to the president Im sure him or his son in law already follow you

Spot on, and a great read. Thanks for sticking up for the consumer.

EU 261 equivalent

Want on time departures or partial refunds if not! No excuses! Space out the departures and cap the airline gate fees racket!

Let them fail. The hard assets will still be there. Let a new company form. They don’t deserve a penny

Many good points. I don’t think airlines should be bailed out at all. Let them declare bankruptcy and start over. Overall they are clueless in what consumers should expect. Maybe new management is what they need, not a bushel of our money with no strings attached.

@dan, Brilliant!

(This was predicted… and I love that Trump calls it the Chinese virus)

@Dan most importantly if an airline cancels a flight they should reimburse customer similar to European laws.

Great Article!!! Yes we should ask for most of your list as we will be sporting the bill and increasing value for the shareholders with our tax dollars

Dan, you can bail them out with your miles/points.

“I’m not saying all of these ideas should be implemented”

Well I say most certainly do, do everything listed! It’s outrageous!

Allow selling of points

Maybe write up a sample letter to send to our politicians, I bet more ppl will send it that way

Totally agree with all of it!!! Even if only some of it would be implemented, the traveling world will be in a much better place.

I actually strongly disagree with most of your suggestions. I think anything that is included “for free” is really just absorbed in the price, causing price increases.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch!
Charging “À la carte” allows the no-frills passengers to get a better deal.
(I typically fly alone, with nothing more than a backpack. I (like MANY others) have no need for baggage allowance, snacks, seat selection, etc)
My 2 cents.

Hey Dan,
why don’t you open an airline with all these things you mentioned. we (still) live in a free country and private airlines should operate how they want. don’t like it, don’t use them.
having said that, they shouldn’t get any bailout money. they should be responsible for their mistakes and mismanagement. every company should have cash aside for a rainy day.
if they need to go thru bankruptcy and/or being bought out. so be it.

BETTER KSML!

Sent the president a link hope he joins def

I am glad banning basic economy scored first place on your list (even if you ordered them randomly 🙂
Basic economy is downright dehumanizing. (especially as passengers could be paying near full fare and still be classed basic.)

DDF

No more stock buy-backs!

keep Dreaming

Definitely agree. If they are taking our money, they need to give us something in return.

How do these bailouts work – they get straight cash payments from the government?
Why can’t the government at least give it as a loan, so when the company is back up and booming in a few months/years, they have to pay it back.

more room for competition is the most important thing imo, these airlines are not afraid to go bust because no one can compete thanks to slot restrictions and many other anti competitive measures

Airlines and hotels have the money for expansive lobbyists and lawyers so they get to make the rules, they literally own the law makers.

We consumers don’t have that power.

If the airlines and hotels receive mega buck. What about the mom and pop travel agencies?

Ironic how the last decade of airline buybacks is so close to the $50B bail out request. Basically a transfer of cash from tax payers to stock holders.

I would not be surprised if Buffett picks up 2 airlines now…

And no offense @dan but your list is heavily weighted towards miles and benefits which is not what is wrong with this industry, they are not a right. merely a benefit introduced to gain customers, dont like it ? dont take it.
What we do need is to make the playing field more even in many ways, and by extension the more competition will force the airlines to treat costumers fairly

Sent this to both of my Senators!

Make any loans senior to all other debt and restrict any stock buybacks until every red penny is paid back.

Oh.. and most of the stuff you said above.. 🙂

Great article here in Crains Chicago

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/joe-cahill-business/real-cost-bailing-out-airlines

Totally agree. I need 1 billion myself..

Dan,

You are spot on in this article. Airlines should not get a bailout unless they realize why they are still in business. Its because of us the consumers whose tax dollars will be used to save them. Your conditions in order to save them should be built in before and money comes their way.The bailout saves jobs but at the same time there is no fiscal responsibility if you always know in the back of your mind the government will help.

With all your ideas the price of a ticket will triple. You know that.

Agree with your 12 items Dan, very well put. Especially like the airline seat size minimums and EU 261 like regulations.

Maybe once and for all they will allow a transfer/sale of a ticket to another person in case you can’t fly?? Never understood that rule…

Spot on!

I do disagree with #3.
Airlines have the right to have whatever crappy loyalty program they see fit, we can then vote with our wallets. Loyalty programs are not a right.

Any change/cancellation fees should also apply to the airline. If they change and/or cancel a flight they should have to refund (or even pay out if the fee is more than the original ticket) just like they expect the passengers to do.

I think Dan mentioned the most compelling reason that the airline and hotel industries should not be bailed out. They have consolidated to such a degree of monopolies that their bankruptcy is the only way to really return consumer rights and dignity to this sector, these guys need to be humbled!

The second but equally important point is that US taxpayers do not need to pay for their greedy stock buyback initiatives. They were greedy, it blew up in their faces and now they have to eat it!

Great article Dan and thanks so much for posting the kids activities, it should be a zechus for you and your family!

@Dan spot on. Expanding on #11, I would like to see an interline agreement between the big 4 so passengers can get to their destinations quickly during IRROPS.

I say NO BAIL OUTS! The reason they are irresponsible with their spending is because they know that if they ever were in trouble they’d be bailed out. Stop bailing them out and they’ll learn!

If my business fails I don’t get bailed out l, they shouldn’t either. That’s simply not fair!

Realistically lazy. If you formulate an actual letter to forward or cut and paste, a lot more people will take action.

What form will the bailout take? It should be in the form of equity or a loan which would be repaid. This is similar to the auto industry bailout. Kind of on the fence as to whether I trust the government to take on any positions on the boards of these airlines which would allow them to push for some of these changes.

they should nit be bailed out there will be an industry because someone/s will buy their assets and hire their workers.

@Dan, how about you begin a change.org petition?

I don’t think they should be bailed out. Once they inevitably collapse, someone else will be there to pick up the scraps and start a “new American airlines” or a “new Delta.” If you want to impose these suggestions on the airlines, they would find some other way to charge their customers. Greed is greed. What this industry needs is new management who understand business and consumer loyalty. Thanks for all your updates during this time

The only way this will have a chance to make a difference is if there is a petition, and I’m sure it will go viral.
Dan, can you please start a petition, no one can write it up better than you.

Preferred shares held in the appropriate government trust; paying a 6-8% annual dividend. This is what Buffet typically expects for offering this ‘bailout service’. This would be a government ‘takeover’ of private industry, but could be balanced by a requirement of these preferred shares to be bought back by the company over the next 20 years.

1, EU 261 type of rule
2, Limits on diminished legroom
3, Limits on adding seats across beyond original model. ie, 3-4-3 on 777 is a no no.
4, Mandates regarding size of lavoratory.
5, Mandate airlines reissue shares on the market TODAY equal to number of shares bought back in the last 3 years.
6, Clawback bonuses that were based on share price raised by buybacks. No mercy on Delta which squandered 2 months pay on bonuses recently.
7, No bonuses till 24 months after all loans repaid.

I do not advocate for free seat selection or free baggage, it is a cost and many passengers do not avail of this. I do recommend fair treatment of carry on bags. If they fit the rules then no airline employee should have the right to ban them unless they were on board and proven no room. Although not a US airline, LH has been caught refusing carry on baggage that fit their rules.

Amazing!

Tag senator Chuck Schumer. He usually goes hard on the aviation industry.

If the airlines are not bailed out, I would postulate we will no longer have fares such as $259 r/t to TLV, $19 fares on JetBlue along with the plethora of price mistakes that Dan & co post for us. The entire DD community will have nothing to do but buy things from Amazon (along with constant reviews on how to change S&S delivery dates)

Traffic to the DD site will drop from 500 quintilian hits per day to just under 500 since we can’t fly anywhere anyhow.

If and when the fare deals do come back, everyone will forget all the past learned lessons and call airlines to confirm price mistakes, be confused about booking infants, question when booking TLV-JFK-Antarctica if they can not fly the last leg, etc etc.

So I say BAIL THEM OUT 🙂

No bail out whatsoever. And all your good points should come with lucrative loans

SEATS not sardine chutes. Give us seats and honesty and enough air to breathe in the cabin

Boeing is not in the same boat as the airlines. Even if the airlines get a bailout, Boeing killed themselves. Nothing to do with the Covid.

Dan, you can bail them out with your points alone

#13 Allow name changes. If they have my money there should be a way for them to allow this if i want to transfer this ticket to someone else.

Cant them apply for low interest loan first.

What about pay cut for the upper levels?

Something to start with before talking about bail out.

Dont see the managements do something before asking for a handout.

Look at Singapore. Voluntary pay cut for SQ management staff starting from the top down. Even the government is taking pay cut starting from the top.

Dan don’t forget abt the airlines chucking people off flights for no good reason Dr. Dao etc.,and many cases with jewish passengers

Onshore Customer Service

I think WN, B6, and maybe DL will be okay.
As for everyone else: KARMA BABY!

No to Bailouts. The airline industry made 100 BILLION dollars on ancillary fees in the last 10 years as well as spend BILLIONS on stock/share buybacks. The shareholders made the money and now they have to pay upon the risk that they took and not at taxpayer expense. Where does it end? You forgot the native american casinos want 18 Billion as well and the cruise lines. What is hollywood going to ask for a bailout after a movie flops? This is not capitalism. It is socialism for private profits and capitalism for losses.

Congress is so disgusted with this that there is a bill to stop the ancillary fees but even it does not go far enough. Check the Forbid Airlines from Imposing Ridiculous (FAIR) Fees Act of 2016 and should be reintroduced.

If they get a penny of taxpayer money, it should be with the conditions of no ancillary fees for 5 years, no share buybacks forever (it was illegal until clinton got into office), no change fees as well. Southwest does most of this and they are making money.

If we bail them out, this will be the end of the american empire.

Interesting question. My two cents: almost all of the measures you list would reduce airline competition, profitability and innovation, likely increasing prices.

Additionally, if you want ppl to invest in future, you need to provide governmental support today via some kind of bailout. If not, and if you do the above items that decrease profitability, then although there used to be value in the assets, who would buy them only to operate at lower margins, made still lower due to no leverage? Additionally, if you dknt provide support even to a strategically important industry such as airlines, then creditors will no longer fund companies, likely causing a seizing up of credit conditions and another financial crisis.

Additionally, if you allow bankruptcy, not only will all labor contracts be renegotiated likely causing retrenchment for the airlines, but also all third party contracts too: so expect downsizing among GDSs, baggage handlers etc.

So what should be done? Increased regulation to avoid the recurrence in future: that means

1) requiring better liquidity to be able to withstand a longer time without revenues – ie more cash kn hand. That would be in favor of creditors too who are necessary to keep happy, but penalize existing shareholders because cash drag reduces margins.

2) second, create a maximum allowable leverage (debt) – this in other words means less future buybacks and dividends, which in the past was funded by debt. It would also mean the airlines would be stronger in future and have more unencumbered assets to realize cash from banks in event of crisis

3) most importantly, any bailout must be in the form of equity ie the government takes ownership of a piece of the airline in equal measure to its bailout size at today’s share price. This means that if there is a quick snap back in conditions and everything looks chunky sorry again, the airlines dnnt simply pay back the money with 3% interest: instead the taxpayer has a full share in the recovery and existing shareholders effectively have sold a pro rate share at the reduced price – effectively giving back the dividends and buybacks.

How about a credit every year, for say 5 years, good for 1 up to 1 rt, coast to coast, ….. Good for any airline. And yes – give us back the bags.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/

Umm, shouldn’t the question be, why isn’t the government bailing us out? Why is always socialism for corporations but not for citizens?

Dan – you are 100 percent right. Can we start a petition with this article? If all your readers sign on it… We will be in the right start. PLEASE??

Love your list. As I was reading it and thought about what to add, I saw you already had it on list. Who are you sending this to? Can we copy and paste to our elected officials?

The initial question is worded very poorly. We should think of the tens or hundreds of thousands of employees who are the backbone of these industries rather than immediately trying to extract some sick quid pro quo in return for livelihoods. This isn’t a time for joyous airing of grievances or grave dancing.

If you want to sacrifice tens of thousands of employee families to “stick it to” a few handfuls of executives with generational wealth who will be fine regardless, well…congrats.

Love all your ideas! How can we make this happen?

We should ask for leg room on all planes

And let’s tell the truth. The US government got paid back in full plus interest from the 2008 financial “bailout”. Truth is more powerful than fear.

No industry — not airlines, not hotels, not cruise ships — should be bailed out. They can stay in business by borrowing at rock-bottom rates, using their assets as collateral. Taxpayer money should be used to bail out people, not corporations.

I understand the bailout – the bailout helps the millions upon millions of American who rely on the airlines.

I want something in return: for at least the next 10 years (including any new airlines), no baggage fee in excess of $20, no less than 35″/89 cm of legroom in coach, no charge for
carry-on, no more than $50 change fee, and no more than $10 for a seat assignment.

Since this administration is advocating SOCIALISM, I don’t expect we’ll get anything . . like a return to free modification of tickets, free checked bag . . in return.

Dan, you nailed it as usual. Can I copy your article to start a petition on Change.org or the White house website?

Require at least 1 daily flight from N12 (Lakewood NJ airport) direct to TLV. As well as a free shuttle flight every 30 minutes taking off from Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn to JFK (Rd clousure will be required during take off and landing)

I’ll add one: Parking fees for hotels. They could really set you back (especially on award nights).
At least they should charge similar prices to nearby lots and garages.

Heres a letter version of this article that i put together to send to our elected officials. LETS DO THIS

To whom this may concern:
It came to my attention that the airline and hospitality industries are requesting a federal bailout in light of the effect coronavirus had on their operations. I humbly suggest that some or all of the following reforms are introduced as conditions to give back to we the people for supplying our tax money for the bailout:
1) NO MORE BASIC ECONOMY FARES. These didn’t lower fares as promised, they just added restrictions and took away even more dignity from economy passengers.
2) FAMILIES WITH KIDS AGE 13 AND UNDER MUST BE SEATED TOGETHER. Airlines are upselling more and more of their seats. Families with kids should always be seated together in advance and not made to embarrassingly scramble on the plane. And traveling companions shouldn’t need to spend extra to sit together.
3) MILEAGE PROGRAMS SHOULD HAVE PUBLISHED AWARD CHARTS. Airline and hotel mileage programs still have award charts, but Delta, United, and Hilton for example hide them from consumers to keep them in the dark. They should be forced to publish them.
4) DEVALUATIONS SHOULD BE ANNOUNCED AT LEAST 6 MONTHS IN ADVANCE. Some programs treat their miles like the bank of Zimbabwe. If airlines and hotels want our help, they should treat consumers with respect and let us know what they plan on devaluing our mileage balances well in advance.
5) RESORT FEES AND DESTINATIONS FEES SHOULD BE BANNED. Hotels want a bailout? They should have to agree to not charge hidden resort fees. Worse yet are the city hotels charging a destination fee. Be up front with your pricing and fair to consumers.
6) FUEL SURCHARGES AND CARRIER IMPOSED SURCHARGES SHOULD BE BANNED. These charges are to avoid paying taxes and add costs onto mileage award tickets that were once advertised as free awards.
7) STOP SHRINKING AIRLINE SEATS. Airline seats are getting narrower even as passengers are getting wider. The distance between seats keeps shrinking. Is it time to regulate a minimum seat width and pitch?
8) STOP SHRINKING AIRLINE BATHROOMS. Boeing’s 737MAX airplanes were unpopular even before consumers realized they were poorly engineered death traps, because Boeing and the airlines configured them to be horribly uncomfortable. Slimmer seats with less legroom then ever. And teeny tiny bathrooms where you can’t maneuver or wash your hands without getting soaked. Just like MCAS didn’t have to be designed to fail, the configuration of these planes don’t have to be designed by wannabe Torquemada engineers. Fix the problem just like you’re fixing MCAS!
9) GIVE PASSENGERS BACK A FREE BAG. Once upon a time everyone got 3 free bags, then is became 2, then 1, then none, and then the cost of bags started skyrocketing. In turn, people started bringing more and bigger carry-ons, which actually delays boarding-which ironically costs the airlines money. You want bailout money? Bring some humanity back and give everyone a free checked bag and a free carry-on bag.
10) CHANGE/CANCELLATION FEES SHOULD BE CAPPED AT A PERCENTAGE OF THE FARE. Many change fees today exceed the cost of a ticket, rendering tickets worthless if you need to make a change. And yet airlines can change the rules on the fly and make us wait 12 months to get a refund if they make changes to our flights. Airlines should agree to cap change and cancellations fees at a reasonable percentage of the fare paid, such as a $150 change fee with a cap of 30% of the actual cost of a ticket.
11) ADD PASSENGER RIGHTS REGULATIONS. Europe’s EU261 requires cash payments for delayed flights, cancelled flights, overbooked flights, downgrades, lost or delayed baggage, and more. US airlines can get away doing nothing in many of these cases. This should be rectified.
12) REMOVE DEREGULATION ACT PROTECTIONS FOR AIRLINES. The airlines can do pretty much whatever they want because the deregulation act prevents consumers from suing them in most cases. It’s time for these protections to be rolled back as airlines have abused consumer knowing they can’t be held accountable. United for example has blatantly lied about written lifetime million miler benefits, SilverWings lifetime membership benefits, and lifetime club benefits, but they can get away with it due to the deregulation act.
Thank you for considering my suggestion and may we all get through this difficult period in good health of body and spirit.

i think on balance the government supports these readers rather than the readers pay taxes, so your opinion shouldn’t matter

There was a talk in the media that the airlines make more money from the credit cards than from the flights. Having routes is just a היכי תמצא to have a credit card with their logo.

Rock on Dan! Can we PLEASE PLEAEE start a petition?? Change.com??

When we the tax payers are allowing any business to set prices, make us pay for the fuel when they didn’t Lock prices and continue to add costs because they can, they don’t have to account for paying the CEO 11.7 million and buy own stock that lose money then nothing changes and they are to blame for not having 2 weeks of reserves to pay employees. Easy to get more money so a bad business never goes bankrupt. We’re all enabling bad behavior every time they cry poor me spent it and lost it now bail me out as a spoiled child is rewarded so they get what they want. Learning is to fail that’s better then abusing those paying for less and are putting our health at risk. I have tons of free tickets but not worth the pain to fly on American

No free money to airlines/hotel chains = no tax cuts, only loans should be granted with tax payers owing a stake. No stock buy back ever. Keep the money for the next disaster even if it means piling up cash. No bonuses for top execs until they repay the loans with interests. All corporate profits go towards repaying loans.

Full refund on any cancellation because of Coronavirus. SW not doing this as of today, even for senior citizens.

Yasher Koach! Send this to the White House, David Friedman, Jason Greenblatt, Jared Kushner or anyone else with access to the President’s ear. How about lower or no CC annual fees on these branded CC.

Nikki Haley resigns from Boeing board because she opposes a federal bailout.

“I cannot support a move to lean on the federal government for a stimulus or bailout that prioritizes our company over others and relies on taxpayers to guarantee our financial position.”

Signed! Thanks Dan

Signed – Thanks!

Signed. Thanks @Dan!

Dan,
Why is your petition not updating? I signed. My wife signed. Still says only 1 person signed.

Your millions of mileage points will go with the airlines that goes bankrupt. Food for thought

I think your petition is broken. ive signed and verified and still showing that no one has signed

Signed!

Signed

I agree with dan theyre are getting very petty and its pissing me off theyre so cheap these days charging you for everything soon theyll impose a bathroom fee !!!!!

We signed and it doesn’t show up. Why?

I just think everyone on this blog should keep their mouths shut while businesses are going through such terrible times as everyone here is a moocher

While I agree to your list of demands when it comes to airlines I believe that cruise companies should not get a penny. They are all incorporated in other countries, they all fly foreign flags, pay no taxes to the US, have mostly foreign crew, don’t follow US labor laws and also are not an essential service such as an airline. They are merely a luxury category. No bailouts whatsoever for them.

Signed

signed Why does it say only 1 signed?

Don’t bail them out, buy them. The American people can reap all future benefits in an annual dividend.

signed!

If you would like to put all these restrictions on airlines be prepared for them to need to be bailed out many more times.

Its funny how you have 158 comments here and only 1 signed the petition which was me

you claim airline execs put there head in sand not preparing more responsibly just in case such a rainy day~I think you answered the question with your other comments ab knowing they will get more CHARITY so why not use your money for buybacks etc.to the fullest extent and allow feds to support!! dosent take a genius! max profit matters!

Hope it works!

Dan I hope your petetion doesn’t cost thousands of people their jobs.

Why to bail them out,!

Why they feel untitled to our taxes…

Its a private business like any other.

And I think they are abusing the system with their numbers.
Is this a donation or a long term free loan?..

Let them sell share.

Signed! Dan thanks for all the great work

I know a few people that signed and it shows one signature. Not sure why

I don’t really expect a “deals blogger” or his readers to understand Wall Street finance but, in case you’re interested, it would not actually have been possible for any of the major US airlines to “have enough cash” to survive the likely outcome of this pandemic. For all the blather about “financial irresponsibility,” the US airlines have been remarkably responsible with keeping huge sums of money in cash since 9/11. Before 9/11, having a billion in cash was considered a lot of reserves. Now, big USA airlines keep 7 or 8 times that. It was all designed to make them capable of withstanding a catastrophic event like 9/11. The problem is that the current situation is at least 5 or 10 times as bad as 9/11. Demand is immediately going to zero for an indefinite time. No capital-intensive intensive industry could ever plan for such a doomsday scenario; honestly, the only things worse I could imagine are widespread nuclear war or alien invasion.
But wait, you say. What if instead of keeping $7 or $8 billion in cash, they had halted all their stock buybacks and dividends and instead kept, say, $40 billion. Just in case of a worldwide nuclear war (or the world’s greatest pandemic). The problem is that in a free market economy, this could never work for a publicly traded company. Airline stock valuations are notoriously low because of the perceived risks of the business. The capitalization of many US airlines has not been much more than their cash on hand, and investors don’t highly value excess cash sitting around for some highly unlikely 100-year-event. If American, for example, had kept $40 billion in cash sitting in a bank account, a corporate raider or “shareholder activist” would have undoubtedly seized control of the business, “looted” this excess cash, and left the company with even fewer reserves. That’s what happens in capitalism. Preposterous amounts of excess cash in a business is inefficient and unsustainable. Thinking otherwise is simply naive.
End of the economics lesson. You can now go back to listing your pie-in-the-sky “consumer demands.”

They will get all this free money to keep them in business. When this is all over we won’t get any deals. It will be a win win for them and a loss for the consumer. If they don’t get as much they will still make their money back at the end of this crisis.

Doesn’t take my signature
Something’s wrong

I am in favor of bailing out the airlines and hotels, as long as they pay taxes.

I am not in favor of bailing out the cruise industry, they are registered abroad to avoid taxes. Furthermore, I think Carnival (Princess) should be held criminally liable for each cruise ship they sailed after the first coronavirus-impacted (Diamond Princess) one. At least two more (including one in the water now) have had COVID-19 outbreaks. They put profit before people. People died because they were on those cruises. That is not okay.

Even if the airlines have to agree to all these conditions, I am sure they will find other ways to treat us bad. They’ve proven pretty good at that until now. And even if not, they will for sure increase fares dramatically if they have to make such changes.

send it also to other bloggers

Thank you Dan! I signed the petition.

@dan love the optimism and the requirements but sadly pretty sure this is a go fight city hall situation.. we are not likely to see these changes not that I wouldn’t love to… and yea I’ll sign the petition

Thanks dan just signed

Sticky this to the top please!!!!

@Dan, I agree 100%. One more line has to be added, name change fees. If it is a TSA rule how could they change for a fee? I once changed my wife’s name on in the airport (travel agent misspelled) and ElAl charged me $250

I’m still not fully understanding the need to bail them out, or in other words, why the airlines are too big to fail.

Many of them have already once gone through chapter 11.

Will there not be companies ready to gobble them up? Warren Buffett seems interested in buying delta anyway. Are jetblue and southwest also about to fail? I’m sure they’d love the chance to cheaply buy some more routes, slots and planes. Maybe Southwest will go back to EWR.

It seems the bailout will happen though. So I guess these consumerist policies are the best we can push for.

What’s the rationale to allow them to devalue miles at all?
I think most importantly, once you buy a ticket, you can gift or sell it to whomever you want. You own it. Same for points. If the TSA wants, they can put in a time limit.

Where do i sign the petition??

Why should we demand no basic economy, it’s a way for people to get cheaper tickets. No one is forcing anyone to but basic economy it’s ban option for those who are willing to do with less. The Truth is just get the airline CC and most restrictions aren’t applicable.

what happens if we don’t get the required amount of signatures we are way short

Seats should be freely transferrable. Not clear to me why if I bought a seat I shouldn’t be able to buy and sell that seat on the secondary market.

Signed it!

> Needs 99,052 signatures by April 23, 2020

They should nationalize the airlines (not that different than all these regulations you are suggesting). Another option is give employees of the airlines more control. Strong unions and reps on the board. Punish the CEOs and Board directors.

Thank you @dan for forward thinking in how yo use the situation for consumer advantages (really rights, like you write).

@DAN
what do you gain for requesting US airlines not to charge fuel surcharges on award tickets when they anyways don’t. the problem is foreign carriers like Lufthansa and Austrian, the request should be to make a law like brazil that any award ticket originating in brazil is not allowed to have fuel surcharges

am I right?

@Dan, how many readers do you have daily on the blog? Trying to figure out the numbers for the petition..

This article send to imply that the airlines are getting even worse now not better..
Cutting out food and drink on flights.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/03/25/business/us-airline-in-flight-changes/index.html

Airline CEOs recently promised to stop stock buybacks and paying dividends in exchange for help from the federal government.

I would add that you have longer then 24 hours to cancel a ticket once you book

Don’t bail them out

Unless we get other bloggers to post this I don’t see us getting even the minimum 100k signatures

Well written post, just seeing this now!
Put together very well, and I see there’s many who disagree! Yeh such a petition will be quite hard to achieve!

Unless people actually make a move and read and pass on to another 5 people!