Media Brief – January 14, 2010

CONTACT:      

Caleb Tiller, +1 703-684-0836 ext. 138, ctiller@nbta.org
Nicole Hayes, +1 703-684-0836 ext. 133, nhayes@nbta.org 

Website Allows Users to File Complaints, Access Records, Find Travel Tips

The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) – the voice of the business travel industry – today praised the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for launching a redesigned, more user-friendly aviation consumer web site. The site allows air travelers to file airline service complaints, compare historical on-time and baggage mishandling records, and find helpful travel and airport security tips.

Michael W. McCormick, NBTA President & COO, said:

”NBTA congratulates U.S. Transportation Secretary LaHood for his ongoing commitment to ensuring consumer protections for airline customers. We are hopeful this new website will help travelers report airline service problems, allowing DOT to address and resolve them quickly and effectively.

NBTA has sought greater transparency in on-time airline performance for some time, and we are pleased to see it come to fruition. Access to this historical data allows corporate travel managers and business travelers to evaluate flight options and make well-informed decisions when arranging travel, saving a company both time and money.

The website can be found at http://airconsumer.dot.gov.

The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) is the world’s premier business travel and corporate meetings organization. NBTA and its regional affiliates – NBTA Australia / New Zealand, the Brazilian Business Travel Association (ABGEV), NBTA Canada, NBTA Europe, NBTA Mexico, and NBTA USA – serve a network of more than 17,000 business travel professionals around the globe with industry-leading events, networking, education & professional development, research, news & information, and advocacy. NBTA members, numbering more than 5,000 in 30 nations, are corporate and government travel and meetings managers, as well as travel service providers. They collectively manage and direct more than US$340 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually on behalf of more than 13 million business travelers within their organizations. For more information, visit www.nbta.org