WASHINGTON, DC – The nation's airlines have a new deadline to meet. That's the October 1 effective date which will require them to provide more data about which flights were delayed on the tarmac before takeoff and which were diverted to unscheduled airports on their way to the final destinations. Currently federal rules don't require airlines to report about these types of delays. For instance, American Airlines diverted a flight bound for Dallas to Austin where passengers sat onboard for nine hours before continuing the flight. That flight did not have to be reported as delayed. Those now infamous JetBlue flights during a winter ice storm in New York were also missing from the carrier's delay report or the DOT database. New rules will require carriers to report each gate departure. Other rules that may soon become policy include the requirement for an airline to respond to a consumer complaint within 30 days and to publish that complaint process online. The biggie on the table is one that would require an airline to have a legally binding plan for lengthy tarmac delays.

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