U.S. Airlines Vow to Review Service Plans

Major U.S. airlines pledged last week to review and update their customer service plans as necessary and called for a government review of airline and airport contingency plans for handling weather-related problems.

The steps outlined by airline chief executives through their trade group was intended to head off potential congressional action against carriers over the service meltdown by JetBlue Airways Corp. during a recent ice storm in New York.

Bipartisan legislation proposed in the Senate would force airlines to take specific action to get passengers off planes during long delays, a proposal that carriers fear would tangle operations and impose high costs.

Airline chief executives met on Thursday at the offices of their lobbying group, the Air Transport Association, to affirm an approach they believe will address concerns raised by the cascading series of events that swamped JetBlue at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport.

In a conference call with Wall Street analysts on Thursday, the company’s chief executive, David Neeleman, called the incident a “really strange deal,” but said passengers do not appear to be booking away.