Buffalo, New York- January 12, 2011 – The ‘Families of Continental Flight 3407’ praised the Department of Transportation for releasing as promised its guidance on new regional airline disclosure requirements (http://airconsumer.dot.gov/rules/guidance.htm), and called for all online ticket agents, in particular, US Airways and websites Expedia and Travelocity, to take expedient action in doing away with the currently misleading use of mouseovers, symbols, and hyperlinks.
“Numerous travelers have reached out to US Airways in support of our efforts and have received responses to the effect that color changes in a US flag graphic and two letter symbols are sufficient notice of flights operated by regional carriers,’ stated Scott Maurer of Moore, South Carolina, who lost his thirty year old daughter Lorin on Flight 3407. “We couldn’t disagree more, and with this new clarifying guidance, we expect US Airways to adjust its website accordingly. Although the guidelines call for sixty days, it would be nice for these modifications to be made by the quickly approaching two year anniversary of our tragedy on February 12th, and as with everything else related to the airlines complying with the new federal law, we will be watching very closely.”
The group recognized Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood as well as the Western New York congressional delegation of Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and Representatives Chris Lee, Brian Higgins, and Louise Slaughter, for their leadership on this issue. It also hailed the grassroots support of families, friends, and travelers across the nation who have reached out to the DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division over the past month in conjunction with the group’s ‘Who’s REALLY Flying Your Plane?’ campaign to voice their concern with online sites not being fully transparent in identifying codeshare operations.
“We want to thank Secreatary LaHood for his leadership and responsiveness on this issue, and once again express our appreciation for everything that our Western New York delegation has done for us,” added Susan Bourque of East Aurora, New York, who lost her sister and prominent 9/11 activist Beverly Eckert. “Most importantly, we are tremendously gratified by the support we have received from people across the country on this initiative. There are numerous other key rulemakings underway as part of this legislation, and it is important for DOT, FAA, and the airlines to realize that we have this broad-based backing when it comes to making sure that the American flying public never again has to pay the price as we have for regional airlines like Colgan Air not providing a TRUE ‘One Level of Safety’.”