Deplaning Provision Stripped From H.R. 2881
A
proposed airline passenger bill of rights has run into trouble in
the House, as a key provision -- the right for trapped passengers
to deplane an airliner trapped over three hours -- ran into a brick
wall.
"It makes me sick," said Kate Hanni, spokesperson for the
Coalition for an Airline Passengers Bill of Rights. "It completely
overwhelms the public interest."
One of the bill's chief proponents -- California Representative
Mike Thompson -- took umbrage to Hanni's assertion the bill had
suffered a setback, noting the overall bill has gone forward, and
may soon become law.
"I thought it was a pretty big win," Thompson told the Santa
Rosa (CA) Press-Democrat. "Anybody with an ounce of sense would
think that."
Thompson notes most of his original proposal made it into H.R.
2881, the House's proposed FAA funding reauthorization plan, which
is awaiting a congressional vote.
"I'm still trying," Thompson asserted, adding Hanni and other
supporters of the bill would need to appeal to Republican lawmakers
to have the deplaning provision put back in.
Even then, however, it's unlikely the provision will make it
back in. Thompson told the newspaper Minnesota Representative James
Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee, was agreeable to adding it back in with enough
support.
But Jim Berard, spokesman for the committee, said in no
uncertain terms that's not the case, saying a "firm deadline" for
letting passengers off delayed flights is "not the best way to
approach this."
That position is firmly in line with the Air Transport
Association, trade group for the nation's largest airlines, which
opposes hard limits to ground delays. The group has extensively
lobbied Congress to make its position known... and that's
understandable, says former Congressman Doug Bosco.
"Lobbyists zero in on the people who can stop legislation, and
this may be an example," said Bosco, who was once a member of the
aviation subcommittee.
Oberstar has received close to $700,000 in campaign
contributions from airline industry interests since 1989, the
Press-Democrat reports, citing figures on opensecrets.org.
Hanni met with an Oberstar aide, and came away with the
impression the congressman "doesn't want to regulate the
airlines... For every one of us there are four airline
lobbyists."
Thompson notes the House FAA bill would still require airlines
to provide stranded flyers with food and water, as well as adequate
lav facilities and cabin ventilation. The government would also
keep closer tabs on such events.
"In the past, nothing was done," he said, noting the issue of
passenger rights was brought before Congress in 1999 and 2001, but
was defeated both times.
Bosco said it's "probably a credit to Mike that his bill got
anywhere at all."
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