Prez Orders Action to Reduce Flight Delays

After a summer of nightmarish ordeals for airline passengers, President Bush yesterday ordered his transportation secretary to sit down with the airlines and do something to reduce delays and improve treatment of travelers by next summer. “There’s a lot of anger amongst our citizens about the fact that, you know, they’re just not being treated right,” Bush said.

The formation of an advisory commission, charged to work out a plan by the end of the year, was welcomed by the airlines, which have been prevented by antitrust laws from working together to address the issue. Most of the focus will be on New York, which handles a third of the nation's air traffic, but some proposals would affect everyone—one idea on table is raising compensation for bumped passengers from $200 to $624.  (More air travel stories.)