Word: mineta
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...With conflicting reports coming in, and controllers attempting to track 'invisible' airplanes, the news of the planes hitting the World Trade Center rocked the FAA headquarters. FAA Administrator Garvey, most likely in full consultation with Secretary of Transportation Norm Mineta, decided to implement a 'ground stop' on New York City airports. Although the FAA doesn't technically close an individual airport, a ground stop prevents any plane, commercial or private, from taking off from that airport and can require incoming flights diverted. When reports that a plane or planes might be headed towards Washington, the FAA HQ on Independence Avenue...
...Transportation Department Secretary Norman Mineta is betting that plenty of Americans will opt for the latter. Wednesday, Mineta appeared before a congressional committee to outline his plan to hike up ticket prices for peak-hour flights - thereby, he hopes, reducing congestion around the nation's airports. While a form of this pricing structure already exists, thanks to simple market pressures, this formula would take much of the guesswork out of pricing flights, establishing a definitive ancillary expense for peak-hour flyers...
...related problems and complaints has skyrocketed, the airlines and the government have tossed around ideas aimed at easing America's travel woes, including lowering ticket prices on non-peak travel. Most plans focus on the consumer, but a few have made their way into the airlines' realm as well: Mineta is also said to be considering bonuses for airlines that use runways and gates at less busy times, and likewise penalizing those that insist on landing, on, say, Friday at 6 p.m at New York's LaGuardia Airport...
...Consumer groups, while not exactly thrilled with Mineta's plans, know they haven't been able to come up with anything better themselves. They find themselves, in other words, in a singularly bad position to complain. AAA, the nation's largest travel organization, took a poll earlier this year and found that nearly 90 percent of their membership would be willing to pay more for airline tickets if it would help alleviate delays. Everyone, it seems, has collected a nightmare airline story in the past two years. And we all may be ready to shell out a bit more money...
Even following all these proposals won't guarantee a hassle-free flight, but it will make the trip a bit more predictable. It might even be pleasant. But it's still up to Norm Mineta to fix things so that you consistently get there on time...