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American Morning
'Minding Your Business'
Aired January 20, 2004 - 07:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Money talk now. There's good news and bad news from the airlines today. Baggage claims still buried in red tape. But some carriers now are rolling back prices slightly.
Andy Serwer is back with us now minding your business -- good morning, Andy.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you guys.
Welcome back, Bill.
HEMMER: Thank you.
Good to be with you.
SERWER: Welcome back, Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you.
SERWER: Both of you.
Yes, this is some good news/bad news for airline travelers. And the bad news, we'll start with that, has to do with everyone who's lost their bags or had them damaged flying over the past year or so. The Transportation Security Administration, formed in November '01, is now involved with reimbursing passengers who've had their bags damaged.
But guess what? We're involved with a big brouhaha between the TSA and the airlines as to who pays for the damage.
So the passengers who have these problems are caught in a legal limbo. Some people have been waiting for as much as 18 months, up to 12,000 passengers, trying to figure out who's going to pay for the damaged or lost bags. And, of course, the airlines are pointing their fingers this way and the TSA is pointing their fingers that way. No resolution in sight and, you know, growing pains basically here by the TSA, not being able to figure out who's responsible for what part.
HEMMER: It's such a pain, too, for travelers.
SERWER: Yes.
HEMMER: What about the surcharge? It was tacked on, then it was removed? What happened?
SERWER: Yes, well, we've seen this before. And what this is is it's just a big game of chicken by the airlines. One raises fares, the other one joins suit and then the same thing happens in reverse. American, looking to, had raised, along with a couple of others there, you can see, a $6 surcharge and basically a couple of others didn't. These three -- American and Continental, have rolled them back. So basically the airlines tried to raise prices, weren't able to do it.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A surcharge for -- on what? What were you getting for that six bucks?
SERWER: You were getting basically to get on the airplane. You weren't really getting much at all, and it was just an attempt to raise...
HEMMER: It's not getting past Serwer, though, is it? Ah, no.
SERWER: That's a crazy question. It was an excuse to do it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 20, 2004 - 07:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Money talk now. There's good news and bad news from the airlines today. Baggage claims still buried in red tape. But some carriers now are rolling back prices slightly.
Andy Serwer is back with us now minding your business -- good morning, Andy.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you guys.
Welcome back, Bill.
HEMMER: Thank you.
Good to be with you.
SERWER: Welcome back, Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you.
SERWER: Both of you.
Yes, this is some good news/bad news for airline travelers. And the bad news, we'll start with that, has to do with everyone who's lost their bags or had them damaged flying over the past year or so. The Transportation Security Administration, formed in November '01, is now involved with reimbursing passengers who've had their bags damaged.
But guess what? We're involved with a big brouhaha between the TSA and the airlines as to who pays for the damage.
So the passengers who have these problems are caught in a legal limbo. Some people have been waiting for as much as 18 months, up to 12,000 passengers, trying to figure out who's going to pay for the damaged or lost bags. And, of course, the airlines are pointing their fingers this way and the TSA is pointing their fingers that way. No resolution in sight and, you know, growing pains basically here by the TSA, not being able to figure out who's responsible for what part.
HEMMER: It's such a pain, too, for travelers.
SERWER: Yes.
HEMMER: What about the surcharge? It was tacked on, then it was removed? What happened?
SERWER: Yes, well, we've seen this before. And what this is is it's just a big game of chicken by the airlines. One raises fares, the other one joins suit and then the same thing happens in reverse. American, looking to, had raised, along with a couple of others there, you can see, a $6 surcharge and basically a couple of others didn't. These three -- American and Continental, have rolled them back. So basically the airlines tried to raise prices, weren't able to do it.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A surcharge for -- on what? What were you getting for that six bucks?
SERWER: You were getting basically to get on the airplane. You weren't really getting much at all, and it was just an attempt to raise...
HEMMER: It's not getting past Serwer, though, is it? Ah, no.
SERWER: That's a crazy question. It was an excuse to do it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
