Every time a passenger purchases a ticket, they're agreeing to a lengthy contract of carriage that outlines the services the airline will provide and, just as important, the rights passengers have should something go wrong.
Southwest Airlines’ runs 41 pages and some 16,000 words. American Airlines’ contains 27 sections, covering everything from baggage to delays to refunds.
But how easy is it, really, for the average traveler to navigate this complex bit of airline bureaucracy?
Not very, according to a recent government study, which described the legally-binding contracts, which vary by airline, as “generally lengthy and difficult to understand.”
In a survey of 11 domestic airlines, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the contracts of carriage ranged from 17 to 74 pages, with the average running 20,000 words. Understanding what’s in the document requires a reading ability similar to a college graduate, the office found using an analysis that considers word and sentence length.
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“They can really be summed up in one or two sentences,” Paul Hudson, president of the non-profit advocacy group Flyer's Rights and member of the FAA's Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee, said. “[The airlines] can do whatever they want whenever they want. They’ll try to do what their ticket says, but don’t hold them to anything.”
The state of affairs won’t come as any surprise to a passenger who’s found themselves caught up in the fine print in a dispute with an airline. The contracts cover nearly every contingency, with airlines carefully laying out what they are and are not responsible for.
The issue came under increased scrutiny earlier this year, when a viral video captured Dr. David Dao being dragged off a United Airlines flight by police after refusing to give up his seat. The airline had attempted to bump Dao from a full flight — something it’s allowed to do per the contracts of carriage — but having already taken his seat, Dao refused. That led to a confrontation with law enforcement United’s CEO would later describe as a “horrific event” — one that he promised would never happen again.
The truth is, airlines are not out of place in modern world where nearly every service or product, from iTunes to credit cards to hospital visits, comes with a lengthy terms of service or consent forms outlining everything from how data will be collected to how a complaint or legal dispute would be handled.
Omri Ben-Shahar, a law professor at the University of Chicago, said these types of agreements are a common way for corporations to manage risk, and they’ve grown increasingly complex over time as technology and companies become more sophisticated.
"The disputes arise and next time around the business knows, just to be on the safe side, we have to add a paragraph [to the contract]," said Ben-Shahar, author of the book More Than You Wanted To Know: The Failure Of Mandated Disclosure. "I don't know in the history of trade that there was a business that said, 'Now we can delete a paragraph.'"
After the Dao incident, United and other airlines made a number of changes to their policies, including pledges not to remove passengers from a plane once they’ve been seated — except in cases where safety or security is a concern — and increases in how much compensation could be offered for volunteers, stretching up to a maximum of $10,000 in some cases.
Airlines have made other efforts to improve the readability of their contracts of carriage, including a partnership between the Department of Transportation and industry group Airlines for America to define frequently used terms, which the DOT posts along with links to consumer protection regulations.
“U.S. airlines recognize that the onus is on us to foster a customer-centric environment, and we take this commitment seriously,” Airlines for America said in a statement.
But Hudson, the consumer advocate, said the contracts leave much to be desired in terms of transparency and passenger protections.
Fliers’ Rights has petitioned the Department of Transportation to consider a rule that would require increased disclosure and clearer language about passengers’ right to compensation when flights involving international segments are delayed, Hudson said. These rights typically aren’t spelled out explicitly in contracts of carriage and instead are obscured behind references to the Montreal Convention, a 1999 treaty regulating certain aspects of international air travel.
Hudson said airlines also have broad leeway to define terms like “force majeure,” a common clause written into the contracts that limits liability should a carrier cancel, delay or otherwise alter a flight or reservation due to one of a number of situations, from weather conditions to civil unrest to work stoppages to “any other condition” beyond the airline’s control.
Simplifying airline contracts of carriage or writing them in plainer language could make them more accessible, but the end result for most passengers will likely be the same.
“People don’t read. There’s just not enough time in the day to read all the contracts and disclosures we get,” Ben-Shahar said. “To the
there are things that are important in the fine print, people generally know that airlines can deny them boarding.”
