January 29, 2001

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Harry Reid held a news conference in the nation's Capitol today to announce two bills to improve the quality of air travel in the United States. The Air Travelers' Fair Treatment Act of 2001 and the Airline Competition Preservation Act of 2001 are both designed to protect passengers in an era of canceled flights, overcrowded airports and frequent airline mergers.

"As someone who travels back and forth to Nevada on a regular basis, I've experienced the frustration of delays, diversions, and cancellations first-hand," said Reid, the Senate's Assistant Democratic Leader. "Passengers should know they have a guaranteed set of rights when they are traveling by air and they should not have to suffer higher prices and reduced service as a result of airline mergers. These bills are designed to address both those problems and I hope that Congress will not delay in taking up this important issue."

Reid's Air Travelers' Fair Treatment Act would require that airlines give passengers accurate and timely explanations for flight delays or cancellations, and would give passengers the right to exit an aircraft that has remained on the tarmac for more than an hour so that they can stretch their legs, use the restrooms, or get something to eat. The Air Travelers Fair Treatment Act would also allow customers to inspect the safety records of airlines, and would direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish uniform regulations for in-flight medical care.

Reid's Airline Competition Preservation Bill would give the Department of Transportation more authority to oversee mergers between airlines. Reid said the bill is needed to protect consumers from drastic fare increases or severe cuts in available flights, as was the case in Nevada recently.

"One need only look what happened when American Airlines purchased Reno Air. Northern Nevada lost a total of 17 flights and now residents and visitors to the Reno and Lake Tahoe area are paying higher prices for fewer available flights. Deregulation was supposed to increase competition, but deregulation is not a magic formula for honesty and fairness, and we must make sure that passengers aren't sacrificed to profits as a result of these mergers," said Reid.

Joining Reid at Monday's news conference were Mark Silbergeld of Consumers Union and Burton Rubin with ASTA, the American Society of Travel Agents.

1. Flight Delays: Air carriers would be required to provide travelers with accurate and timely explanations of the reasons for a flight cancellation, delay or diversion from a ticketed itinerary.

2. Right To Exit Aircraft: Where a plane has remained at the gate for more than 1 hour past its scheduled departure time and the captain has not been informed that the aircraft can be cleared for departure within 15 minutes, passengers would have the right to exit the plane into the terminal to make alternative travel plans, or simply to stretch their legs, get something to eat, etc. This provision will help prevent "air rage" incidents when passengers are forced to sit in parked planes for long periods of time.

3. Right to In-flight Medical Care: Currently, each airline has its own policy regarding what kind of medical and first-aid equipment and training is provided on their flights, so that the available equipment varies widely. This bill would directs the Secretary of Transportation to issue uniform minimum regulations for all carriers regarding the type of medical equipment each flight must carry and the kind of medical training each flight crew should receive.

4. Access to State Laws: The Federal Courts have split on whether the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 pre-empts state consumer protection and personal injury laws as applied to airlines. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that passengers may sue airlines in state court for violations of state fraud and consumer protection laws; in contrast, the Fourth Circuit has held that airlines are immune from state law. The bill would clarify that the 1978 Act does not pre-empt state tort and consumer protection laws.

5. Termination of Ticket Agents: Travel agencies provide a valuable service to customers looking for the best prices. Yet airlines have enormous leverage over what kind of information they can and cannot provide to customers, because they can withdraw their accounts without notice from any travel agency for any reason -- even if the only reason is that the travel agency is giving the customer the best rates. The bill requires carriers to provide written 90-day advance statement of reasons before canceling a travel agency's account with the airline, and to give them 60 days to correct the identified deficiencies.

6. Safety Records: The bill will include a new provision requiring the Secretary of Transportation to develop regulations under which the safety, inspection, certification compliance and accident records of the airlines will be made available to any customer upon request.

The Act takes effect when, as a result of mergers between two or more of the top seven carriers, three or fewer carriers control more than 70% of domestic revenue passenger miles.

• Monopolistic Fares - The Secretary of Transportation is authorized to require reduction in fares that are unreasonably high. The factors to be considered include:

  Whether the fare in question is higher than fares charged in similar markets; whether the fare has been increased in excess of cost increases; and whether there is a reasonable relationship between fares charged leisure travelers and those charged business travelers.

  If a fare is found to be unreasonably high, the Secretary may order that it be reduced, that the reduced fare be offered for a specified number of seats and that rebates be offered.

• Preventing Unfair Practices Against Low Fare New Entrants - If a dominant incumbent carrier responds to low fare service by a new entrant by matching the low fare, and offering two or more times the low fare seats as the new entrant, the dominant carrier must continue to offer the low fare for two years, for at least 80% of the highest level of low fare seats it offered.

• Increasing Competition At Hubs - If a dominant carrier at a hub airport is taking advantage of it monopoly power by offering fares 5% or more above industry average fares, in more than 20% of hub markets, DOT may take steps to facilitate added competition at the hub.

  The measures to encourage competition may include measures relating to the dominant carrier's gates, slots, and other airport facilities, travel agent commissions, frequent flyer programs and corporate discount programs.