NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Thousands of airline passengers with damaged bags or items missing from their luggage have been caught in bureaucratic red tape between the airlines and the new federal Transportation Security Administration, with some claims pending up to 18 months.
The airlines say the claims are a customer relations nightmare for them, and they are asking that they be given the rights to settle claims with customers and have TSA pay only a minority of the costs involved, rather than have the federal agency try to judge responsibility and settle the claim.
"It's a major concern," said Doug Wells, spokesman for the Air Transport Association, the industry's trade group. "We've said, 'Let us take back the settlement process. We have the core competency to do this.' For customer relations reasons, we need to get going on this. It's completely unsatisfactory the way this is being handled by the federal government."
Wells would not disclose what percentage of costs the ATA is proposing each side pay, saying he didn't want to upset ongoing negotiations. He said a major sticking point now is that the TSA is proposing to cap the amount it would be forced to pay in any one year.
A spokeswoman for TSA said the agency is moving as fast as possible, given the relatively young age of the agencey. The TSA was created in November 2001 and started screening bags in April 2002 at Baltimore Washington International Airport.
"We've established a responsive and customer-friendly (claims) process," said TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis. "We have been working with airlines to find an equitable way to address the claims. When a checked bag gets processed, it now touches many hands. It's difficult to assess responsibility."
Davis' figures show about 8,500 claims pending resolution of negotiations as of Oct. 1 last year, with another 4,000 in some stage of settlement, and about 3,000 claims denied as legally insufficient, a duplicate claim or some other reason. An industry official said that only a few dozen claims have actually been settled and paid by the agency.
Wells says the numbers so far are relatively small -- only $3 million to $5 million in claims. But he said that it is important to have a procedure settled between the airlines and TSA before claims are paid.
Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, a group representing business travelers, says both the airlines and the TSA are losing points with the traveling public because this dispute has dragged on.
"It's nothing but a lost opportunity as they drag this out and frustrate travelers, for some of whom this is a real burden," said Mitchell, who says he puts most but not all of the blame at the feet of the TSA. "If this were some mundane issue, it's not a surprise this would drag on. But to fall on something that so touches the individual travelers is a serious mistake. Each of them go out and tells 10 people, and they all tell 10 people. It's very bad form and publicity."
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