HSA Reports On Charter Flights, Defends Agency's Present Prices

The Harvard Student Agencies, Inc. last night issued a report defending its charter flight operations against the charges of high rates and improper management raised in the past two months.

The report, "prepared to provide a fall discussion of the considerations involved in charter flight operations," states that:

* the HSA makes no profits on its charter flights.

* the complicated charter flight regulations and high financial risk make it necessary that only experienced students under proper supervision be allowed to handle such flights in the University.

* the HSA cannot publish the details of its finances because "no business can do go without involving itself in unending disputes about each and every item."

Dean von Stade, a member of the HSA board of of directors, said last night that he strongly supported the report, "I think the HSA has been even more frank than it had to be."

Von Stade and Dean Watson, also and HSA director, both felt that the organization was justified in refusing to release its finances to the public.

The report, which was distributed door-to-door in the college last night, said that higher officials of the University not connected with the HSA had found the administrative expenses of the flights to be reasonable.

It maintained that administrative expenses were as low as they could be without sacrificing the "high standards of safety, comfort, and convenience" which the HSA sets for the flights.

The authors of the report--Dustin M. Burke '52, general manager of the HSA, Charles H. Everill '65, and Harold Rosenwald '27, HSA general counsel--apologized for the length of the report, but felt that a sunperilcial treatment of the matter can serve the interests of none."

The report failed to answer charges made by several Harvard students to Dean Watson in February that the HSA had violated Civil Aeronautics Board and International Air Transport Association regulations. The students claimed that the HSA had failed to follow regulations which required a charter organization to give each passenger an itemized list of expenses before each right and to issue a detailed financial report afterwards.