Last week’s passage of the FAA Reauthorization Bill was the end of a slow-but-sure plan to change the consumer position in the aviation legislative landscape. Though consumers, led by Travelers United, did not get everything they worked for, the main issues that prevailed in this year’s shortened version of reauthorization are a big step in changing aviation laws.
The position of the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protection was solidified.
This advisory committee, created as part of the previous FAA bill, was renewed and given specific projects that will be reported to Congress. This was accomplished through the hard work of making the advisory committee relevant and by the belief in the advisory committee by both the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee staff. Without the excellent performance of the advisory committee over the past three years and the belief in this committee by the major aviation committees in Congress, consumers would be without what has become a unique platform to air grievances.
Families sitting together
For the past three years Travelers United has been meeting regularly with Congressional staff and with the DOT Consumer Protection Division about the need for honesty in seat reservations, especially when it comes to families. When many airlines began to charge extra for reservations of aisle and window seats, it made sitting together for families without paying extra almost impossible. Travelers United argued that the practice of withholding free seats until the last minute put families at a disadvantage. The organization also spoke directly with airlines, but to no avail. Finally, in this bill, Congress came down firmly on the side of passengers and families. It will be about a year before DOT rules are finalized, but the deed is done. Soon, airlines will no longer be able to force families to pay to sit together.
Return of baggage fees
Since 2008, airlines have been charging checked-baggage fees. Travelers United has unsuccessfully battled to require that airlines make these fees available to the public through the buying process whether tickets are purchased from the airlines or from travel agents. However, another of our requests to Congress and DOT has been to have baggage fees refunded when not used or when the airlines do not deliver baggage at the end of the flight. Two years ago, Travelers United successfully got DOT to rule that when baggage is lost, the baggage fees must be refunded. In this FAA Bill, Congress has mandated that when luggage is delayed by more than 12 hours on domestic flights, and by more than 15 hours on international flights, consumers will be refunded their baggage fees. Another big win for consumers.
Tarmac delay rules included in legislation
During deliberations of the last FAA bill, Travelers United and the airlines negotiated an agreement that the three-hour tarmac delay rule would not be included in the legislation and that the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protection would be created. At the time, DOT had already instituted strong tarmac delay language and hefty fines for violations. This bill now enshrines the tarmac delay rule in legislation with a law that aircraft on runways must return to the terminal after three hours waiting for takeoff. (The previous DOT rule was not clear about whether planes had to be back at the terminal before the three-hour mark or had to return at the three-hour mark.) This bill effectively makes tarmac delays part of aviation legislation with the clarification that the three-hour rule allows planes to remain on the runway for three hours prior to returning to the terminal.
The FAA bill that was passed and signed by the President, is very short-term for FAA bills. This means that negotiations about other consumer protections will begin almost immediately for inclusion in the following bill that will be developed. This means consumers have another “bite of the apple” of consumer protections, mandated seat sizes, honest seat reservation maps, full disclosure of ancillary fees, antitrust immunity, and airline alliances, as well as becoming part of the process to develop a new air traffic organization that can deliver steady funding for the modernization of the US air traffic control system.
Slow, but steady, is the Travelers United rule. The more bipartisan these actions and proposed legislation are, the better chance consumers have of improving their flying experience.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
