Why Ohio hasn’t joined feds’ airline improvement efforts
In the past five years, hundreds of Ohioans have complained to the Ohio attorney general about air travel.
Among their many gripes: lost bags, long delays, canceled flights and numerous other issues.
There’s a problem with complaining to the state, however: Enforcement of consumer protection laws related to air travel is almost solely within the jurisdiction of the federal government.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced a new partnership with state attorneys general, who are being asked to help the federal government better and more quickly enforce the laws.
Eighteen states signed up to help — but Ohio wasn’t one of them.
A spokesman for Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said the effort doesn’t go far enough and that states should be able to enforce the laws independent of the federal government. “It’s like bringing a Wiffle bat to a baseball game – it’s technically a bat, but it’s not very useful,” said Hannah Hundley, public information officer for Yost.
Consumer advocates, however, believe the DOT initiative is significant and is likely to help travelers get results.
“Basically, the state AGS will be able to forward complaints they think are significant to DOT, which will be able to prioritize them appropriately, instead of those complaints getting lost in the shuffle,” said Teresa Murray, consumer watchdog director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit that advocates for consumer protections. (Murray is a former Plain Dealer reporter.)“having regulators in many/ most states will help enormously.”
She added, “Once word gets out over the months ahead, we think travelers will be more inclined to file a complaint with their state than the DOT, which they often think of as the abyss.”
The new Airline Passenger Protection Partnership creates a “fast-track system” that states can use to help consumers who believe they are the victims of unfair or deceptive practices. Participating states also will have access to the federal complaint database, which may make building a case against an airline easier.
In recent years, state attorneys general have pushed for more enforcement power, including federal legislation that would allow them to take action against airlines.
Indeed, Yost in 2022 signed a letter from the National Association of Attorneys General urging Congress to give him and other state attorneys general the power to enforce both state and federal consumer protection laws as
they relate to the airline industry.
Ohio, in particular, might benefit from stronger enforcement, due to the strong presence of Frontier Airlines in the state.
Frontier, based in Denver, is the most complained about airline in both Ohio and the United States.
The airline in March opened a crew base at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, and is in the midst of a major expansion in Cleveland, with 13 new destinations launching this spring and summer. The carrier also is opening a crew base in Cincinnati this spring, with a similar expansion of flights planned there.
Last year, Frontier led all U.S. carriers in cancellations and delays, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data.
According to the DOT, 2.13% of Frontier’s flights were canceled in 2023 – well above the national average of 1.29% (but better than the year before, when 2.87% of Frontier’s flights were canceled, also the highest among U.S. airlines).
Frontier also led the nation in delays — with an on-time arrival percentage of just 66.99% in 2023, well below the national average of 78.34%.
Frontier is, by far, the most griped about airline in Ohio, at least among those who complain to Yost’s office.
In the past five years, the state attorney general has logged air-travel related complaints from at least 236 Ohioans. Frontier was the target of 59 of those complaints — 25% of the total, even though Frontier flies about 10% of the travelers from the state’s three largest airports in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. (Cincinnati’s airport is in Kentucky, but serves primarily Ohioans.)
The next most complained about airline in Ohio in 2023 was Spirit, followed by United and American.
Among those who have complaints with Frontier: Former Ohio lawmaker Gary Suhadolnik, who flies the airline regularly between Cleveland and Fort Myers, Florida. “I would guess over the years that I have flown with Frontier, virtually half the flights have had problems,” he wrote in an email.
Among the issues: major changes in departure times, sometimes as much as eight hours; delays due to the lack of a flight crew and other issues; changes in seating policies; and excessively long waits for luggage.
“I just think a ticket should be a contract and if the airline breaks the contract, some serious compensation is due,” said Suhadolnik, a former Republican state senator from Strongsville, who was also the executive director of the Ohio Turnpike Commission.
Though he fears excessive federal regulation, Suhadolnik said he understands why states can’t establish their own rules. Still, he said, airlines should be held to account. “If they miss the mark — just like buying any other item — some compensation or a refund is due. In simple terms, promise you can deliver and deliver what you promise,” he said.
The DOT’S new initiative comes after years of increasing consumer complaints against the airline industry.
According to PIRG’S latest report, The Plane Truth 4, complaints more than doubled against U.S. airlines in the first five months of 2023. That followed a record-setting 2022, when consumers filed more complaints against U.S. airlines than in any year in DOT history.
Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection, which has a staff of just over 40, has been unable to keep up with the increase in complaints, according to PIRG.
The new state-federal partnership should help, the department said in a statement. “By closely cooperating with state attorneys general across the country, [the office] will be able to better fulfill its expansive mandate given its limited resources.”
To counter the growing complaints, the U.S. Department of Transportation last year established an Airline Customer Service Dashboard to help consumers better compare airline policies and performance. In addition, last month, it announced new rules designed to make it easier for travelers to get their money back when a flight is canceled or significantly delayed, as well as new rules requiring the disclosure of baggage and change fees.
Still, the rules are meaningless without enforcement.
Hundley, with Yost’s office, acknowledged that Yost has supported an effort to increase state enforcement of air travel consumer protection laws. But she said the new partnership could be misleading to consumers and a waste of money.
“In addition to creating an additional and unnecessary step, states still wouldn’t have any jurisdiction to act — which we believe is misleading to consumers and a wasteful duplication of taxpayer resources,” she said.
Meanwhile, the 18 states that have signed on to participate include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New York, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. Another seven states — Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont and Washington — have expressed an interest in doing so.
A spokesperson for the DOT said Ohio was encouraged to join at any time.