US airlines striving to boost profitability are up against an army of penny-pinching customers who would rather sit in a dreaded middle seat than pay more to fly, says a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released Wednesday. Airlines have sought to lure travellers into business and first class with plush airport lounges, fancy on-board cocktails and high speed internet connections. But the poll showed 83% of Americans put ticket prices among their chief considerations when booking personal travel, outweighing travel perks or an airline's reputation. Sixty percent of those polled said they would not pay extra to avoid being assigned a middle seat. About 52% said they would not pay more to fly on their preferred airline. The results underscore the challenge for airlines to boost revenue with pricey extras. <br/>
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A bill of rights for Canadian travellers would prevent problems like those experienced by Air Transat passengers forced to withstand uncomfortably warm conditions on a flight stuck on an Ottawa runway for 6 hours this week, the parliamentary secretary to Canada’s minister of transport said Wednesday. Karen McCrimmon said the legislation – Bill C-49 – could become a reality in 2018, and would give consumers a legitimate way to hold airlines accountable in cases of mistreatment. “We’re giving the consumer more teeth, to be able to say, ‘no these are my rights, and I don’t have to accept being treated this way,“’ she said. McCrimmon said the upcoming bill of rights would lay out the basic standards airlines must adhere to, as well as the compensation passengers are entitled to if airlines don’t abide by the rules. <br/>
Passengers have been forced to wait in queues for up to 4 hours - longer than some of their flights - after arriving at airports popular with British tourists. The delays are reportedly being caused by the introduction of newly-toughened and more time consuming immigration checks. The problem - at what is traditionally already the busiest time of the year for flights - is being made worse by a lack of border officials on the continent, it is claimed. An association representing airlines said queues stretching for "hundreds of metres" are in some cases causing passengers to miss their flights. Airlines UK said it had warned the Department for Transport about the problem in May, although they were told by ministers the issue had eased. <br/>