II

Calendar No. 282

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 383

[Report No. 106–162]

To establish a national policy of basic consumer fair treatment for airline

passengers.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 6, 1999

Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. MCCAIN, Ms. SNOWE, Mr. BRYAN, and Mr.

FEINGOLD) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

SEPTEMBER 22, 1999

Reported by Mr. LOTT (for Mr. MCCAIN), with an amendment in the nature

of a substitute

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

A BILL

To establish a national policy of basic consumer fair

treatment for airline passengers.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Airline Passenger

5 Fairness Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 The Congress makes the following findings:

3 (1) The number of airline passengers on United

4 States carriers is expected to grow from about 600

5 million per year today to about 1 billion by the year

6 2008.

7 (2) Since 1978 the number of certified large air

8 carriers has decreased from 30 to 10. In 1998, 6 of

9 the United States’ largest air carriers sought to

10 enter into arrangements that would result in 3 large

11 networks comprising approximately 70 percent of

12 the domestic market.

(3) Only 2 13 ⁄3 of all communities in the United

14 States that had scheduled air service in 1978 still

have it today, and 1 15 ⁄2 of those remaining are served

16 by smaller airlines feeding hub airports.

17 (4) The Department of Transportation’s Do18 mestic Airline Fares Consumer Report for the 3rd

19 Quarter of 1997 listed 75 major city pairs where

20 fares increased by 30 percent or more year-over21 year, while total traffic in these city pairs decreased

22 by 863,500 passengers, or more than 20 percent.

23 (5) A 1998 Department of Transportation

24 study found that large United States air carriers

25 charge twice as much at their large hub airports

26 where there is no low fare competition as they
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1 charge at a hub airport where a low fare competitor

2 is present. The General Accounting Office found

3 that fares range from 12 percent to 71 percent high4 er at hubs dominated by one carrier or a consor5 tium.

6 (6) Complaints filed with the Department of

7 Transportation about airline travel have increased

8 by more than 25 percent over the previous year, and

9 complaints against large United States air carriers

10 have increased from 6,394 in 1997 to 7,994 in

11 1998.

12 (7) The 1997 National Civil Aviation Review

13 Commission reported that recent data indicate the

14 problem of delay in flights is getting worse, and that

15 the number of daily aircraft delays of 15 minutes or

16 longer was nearly 20 percent higher in 1996 than in

17 1995.

18 (8) The l997 National Civil Aviation Review

19 Commission forecast that United States domestic

20 and international passenger enplanements are ex21 pected to increase 52 percent between 1996 and

22 2006, and the Federal Aviation Administration fore23 casts annual growth in revenue passenger miles will

24 average 4.2 percent.
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1 (9) A l998 Department of Transportation study

2 found that the large United States air carriers

3 charge about 60 percent more to passengers trav4 eling to or from small communities than they charge

5 to passengers traveling between large communities.

6 (10) The Congress has directed the Secretary of

7 Transportation to prohibit unfair and deceptive

8 practices in the airline industry.

9 SEC. 3. FAIR PRACTICES FOR AIRLINE PASSENGERS.

10 Section 41712 of title 49, United States Code, is

11 amended—

12 (1) by striking ‘‘On the initiative’’ and inserting

13 ‘‘(a) DUTY OF THE SECRETARY.—On the initiative’’;

14 and

15 (2) by adding at the end thereof the following:

16 ‘‘(b) SPECIFIC PRACTICES.—For purposes of sub17 section (a), the terms ‘unfair or deceptive practice’ and

18 ‘unfair method of competition’ include, in the case of a

19 certificated air carrier, an air carrier’s failure—

20 ‘‘(1) to inform a ticketed passenger, upon re21 quest, whether the flight on which the passenger is

22 ticketed is oversold;

23 ‘‘(2) to permit a passenger holding a confirmed

24 reserved space on a flight to use portions of that

25 passenger’s ticket for travel, rather than the entire
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1 ticket, regardless of the reason any other portion of

2 the ticket is not used;

3 ‘‘(3) to deliver a passenger’s checked baggage

4 within 24 hours after arrival of the flight on which

5 the passenger travelled and on which the passenger

6 checked the baggage, except for reasonable delays in

7 delivery of such baggage;

8 ‘‘(4) to provide a consumer full access to all

9 fares for that air carrier, regardless of the tech10 nology the consumer uses to access the fares if such

11 information is requested by that consumer;

12 ‘‘(5) to provide notice to each passenger holding

13 a confirmed reserved space on a flight with reason14 able prior notice when a scheduled flight will be de15 layed for any reason (other than reasons of national

16 security);

17 ‘‘(6) to inform passengers accurately and truth18 fully of the reason for the delay, cancellation, or di19 version of a flight;

20 ‘‘(7) to refund the full purchase price of an un21 used ticket if the passenger requests a refund within

22 48 hours after the ticket it purchased;

23 ‘‘(8) to disclose to consumers information that

24 would enable them to make informed decisions about
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1 the comparative value of frequent flyer programs

2 among airlines, including—

3 ‘‘(A) the number of seats redeemable on

4 each flight; and

5 ‘‘(B) the percentage of successful and

6 failed redemptions on each airline and on each

7 flight.

8 ‘‘(c) REPORT.—The Secretary shall include informa9 tion about violations of subsection (a) by certificated air

10 carriers in the Department of Transportation’s monthly

11 Air Travel Consumer Report.

12 ‘‘(d) CONFIRMED RESERVED SPACE.—The term ‘con13 firmed reserved space’ shall mean a space on a specific

14 date and on a specific flight and class of service of a car15 rier which has been requested by a passenger and which

16 the carrier or its agent has verified, by appropriate nota17 tion on the ticket or in any other manner provided by the

18 carrier, as being reserved for the accommodation of the

19 passenger.’’.

20 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

21 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Airline Customer Serv22 ice Commitment Act’’.

23 SEC. 2. AIRLINE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPORTS.

24 (a) SECRETARY TO REPORT PLANS RECEIVED.—Each

25 air carrier that provides scheduled passenger air transpor-
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1 tation and that is a member of the Air Transport Associa2 tion, all of which have entered into the voluntary customer

3 service commitments established by the Association on June

4 17, 1999, (hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘Airline Customer

5 Service Commitment’’), shall provide a copy of its indi6 vidual customer service plan to the Secretary of Transpor7 tation by September 15, 1999. The Secretary, upon receipt

8 of the individual plans, shall report to the Senate Com9 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and to

10 the House of Representatives Committee on Transportation

11 and Infrastructure the receipt of each such plan and trans12 mit a copy of each plan.

13 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Inspector General of the

14 Department of Transportation shall monitor the implemen15 tation of any plan submitted to the Secretary under sub16 section (a) and evaluate the extent to which each such car17 rier has met its commitments under its plan. Each such

18 carrier shall provide such information to the Inspector Gen19 eral as may be necessary for the Inspector General to pre20 pare the report required by subsection (c).

21 (c) REPORTS TO THE CONGRESS.—

22 (1) INTERIM REPORT.—The Inspector General

23 shall submit a report of the Inspector General’s find24 ings under subsection (a) to the Senate Committee on

25 Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the
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1 House of Representatives Committee on Transpor2 tation and Infrastructure by June 15, 2000, that in3 cludes a status report on completion, publication, and

4 implementation of the Airline Customer Service Com5 mitment and the individual airline plans to carry it

6 out.

7 (2) FINAL REPORT; RECOMMENDATIONS.—

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Inspector General

9 shall submit a final report to the Senate Com10 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor11 tation and the House of Representatives Com12 mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure by

13 December 31, 2000, on the effectiveness of the

14 Airline Customer Service Commitment and the

15 individual airline plans to carry it out. The re16 port may include any recommendation the In17 spector General finds appropriate to improve

18 consumer protections afforded to commercial air

19 passengers.

20 (B) SPECIFIC CONTENT.—In the final re21 port under subparagraph (A), the Inspector Gen22 eral shall—

23 (i) evaluate each carrier’s plan for

24 whether it is consistent with the voluntary

25 commitments established by the Air Trans-
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1 port Association in the Airline Customer

2 Service Commitment;

3 (ii) evaluate each carrier as to the ex4 tent to which, and the manner in which, it

5 has performed in carrying out its plan;

6 (iii) identify, by air carrier, how it

7 has implemented each commitment covered

8 by its plan; and

9 (iv) provide an analysis, by air car10 rier, of the methods of meeting each commit11 ment, and in such analysis provide infor12 mation that allows consumers to make deci13 sions on the quality of air transportation

14 provided by such carriers.

15 SEC. 3. INCREASED FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR LOST

16 BAGGAGE.

17 The Secretary of Transportation shall initiate a rule

18 making within 30 days after the date of enactment of this

19 Act to increase the domestic baggage liability limit in part

20 254 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations.

21 SEC. 4. INCREASED PENALTY FOR VIOLATION OF AVIATION

22 CONSUMER PROTECTION LAWS.

23 Section 46301(a) of title 49, United States Code, is

24 amended by adding at the end thereof the following:
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1 ‘‘(7) CONSUMER PROTECTION.—For a violation

2 of section 41310, 41712, any rule or regulation pro3 mulgated thereunder, or any other rule or regulation

4 promulgated by the Secretary of Transportation that

5 is intended to afford protection to commercial air

6 transportation consumers, the maximum civil penalty

7 prescribed by subsection (a) may not exceed $2,500

8 for each violation.’’.

9 SEC. 5. COMPTROLLER GENERAL INVESTIGATION.

10 The Comptroller General of the United States shall

11 study the potential effects on aviation consumers, including

12 the impact on fares and service to small communities, of

13 a requirement that air carriers permit a ticketed passenger

14 to use any portion of a multiple-stop or round-trip air fare

15 for transportation independent of any other portion without

16 penalty. The Comptroller General shall submit a report,

17 based on the study, to the Senate Committee on Commerce,

18 Science, and Transportation and the House of Representa19 tives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure by

20 June 15, 2000.

Calendar No. 282

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 383

[Report No. 106–162]

A BILL

To establish a national policy of basic consumer

fair treatment for airline passengers.

SEPTEMBER 22, 1999

Reported with an amendment in the nature of a

substitute