Ethics Newsline®

WASHINGTON
U.S. air carriers last week continued their campaign to restore the industry’s tarnished image, announcing detailed plans for improving customer service.

New measures include informing customers when a flight has been overbooked, providing timely information on canceled and delayed flights, and upping the coverage for lost luggage, the Associated Press reported.

The airlines have been scrambling to regain consumer confidence after a spate of flight troubles, workers’ strikes, and damning reports on passenger bumping crystallized public anger.

Washington lawmakers had threatened to regulate the industry unless it came up with a plan for correcting its problems.

Last week’s announcement, intended to stave off such regulation, met with mixed reviews in Washington, according to the AP report.

While some lawmakers said the industry should be given time to reform itself, others dismissed the provisions as a mixture of toothless, largely unenforceable measures and passenger protections already covered by federal law.

The airlines must implement the new plans by December 15.