With two major airlines in bankruptcy—United and US Airways—and another, Delta, flirting with it, you can be forgiven if you worry about buying an airline ticket too far in the future. Our Savvy Traveler, Rudy Maxa, says there’s another concern on the horizon, as well.

If Delta does join United and US Airways in Chapter Eleven Land, that’ll mean 42 percent of all flights in the US will be flown by airlines operating under the protection of bankruptcy courts.

And what if one of those airlines closes down? Well, under the current law, the other airlines have to find you a seat.

Passengers stuck with worthless tickets have 60 days to trade ‘em in for tickets on an airline still in business. At a cost of not more than $50 per ticket. That’s the law. But the law is about to expire in November, and there’s no indication Congress will extend it.

So it’s time for the airlines to do it themselves. Imagine how reassuring it would be for passengers planning to book tickets on a US Airways flight to Florida in February to know that if the airline folds—and I’m NOT saying it will—that another airline will honor that US Airways ticket.

This isn’t tough. Airlines have historically stepped in to fly passengers when a rival airline has closed. The country’s airlines should tell us we can buy tickets today with the assurance that if something goes wrong, we’re still covered. And the discount airlines are going to have to get on board too, since their route structures now rival the Big Boys’.

This law was never clear on whether passengers holding tickets purchased with frequent flyer miles were covered. They should be—after all, those miles were paid for one way or another.

More than consumer confidence is at stake. As a group called the Business Travel Coalition points out, taxpayers provided airlines with billions in grants and loan guarantees after 9-11. They ought not get stuck again holding worthless tickets just because an airline couldn’t get its business model right.

From St. Paul, I’m Rudy Maxa for Marketplace.

October 06, 2004