One Year After “Who’s Really Flying Your Plane?” Campaign, Families Remain Vigilant on Code Share Disclosure
Buffalo, New York- December 17, 2011 – With Christmas just a week away, the family of fifty-three year old Jerome ‘Jerry’ Krasuski, a defense contractor for Northrup Grumman who was lost in the crash of Continental Flight 3407, urged the Department of Transportation and Secretary Ray LaHood to continue to diligently enforce stricter code share disclosure requirements. With many of the passengers of Flight 3407 not even aware that they had bought a ticket on a flight operated by regional airline Colgan Air rather than its parent carrier Continental (now United) Airlines, Congress passed legislation in August 2010 which included a requirement for all internet ticket sites to prominently display the regional airline actually operating each code share flight, for the public to view and consider when shopping for plane tickets.
“The holidays are overwhelming to begin with, but now they are actually almost unbearable. My husband Jerry was in tears when he found out he was going to be a grandpa, and together our granddaughter’s birth was one of the happiest days of our lives. Just a few weeks later, I remember my daughter and I baking Christmas cookies all day, while Grandpa babysat. He couldn’t put her down,” stated Justine Krasuski of Cheektowaga, New York. “Ava was only 4 months old when she lost her grandpa. It breaks my heart knowing he is missing watching her and her brother Riley, whom Jerry never got to meet, in their holiday excitement. I couldn’t bear for that to happen to another family, and so our group is completely dedicated to making sure that all Americans understand that just because your plane is painted in Continental or United colors, that doesn’t mean that you are flying with a Continental or United crew. Secretary LaHood has aggressively enforced this new policy in the past year, and we are counting on him to remain watchful in the weeks and months ahead. We need to keep up the pressure so that regional airlines like Colgan, Mesaba, and Pinnacle invest in the very best training and safety programs, just like their parent carriers.
” Public Law 111-216, ‘The Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010’, included a provision mandating full disclosure of code share arrangements when shopping for airline tickets. Last Christmas, the ‘Families of Continental Flight 3407’ launched a campaign entitled ‘Who’s Really Flying Your Plane?’, designed to raise public awareness of this issue. As a result of this, DOT issued guidance in January 2011 relating to the proper marketing of code share arrangements, and has fined multiple ticket sources, including Amadeus, a prominent information technology provider for many travel agencies, for failure to comply to those rules.
This appeal for increased visibility of code share arrangements comes as part of the Flight 3407 Families’ ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ campaign, aimed at highlighting key elements of the family group’s push for ‘One Level of Safety’ for all passengers traveling on the nation’s regional airlines, which account for over half of all flights flown in the United States.