II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 603

To promote competition and greater efficiency of airlines to ensure the rights

of airline passengers, to provide for full disclosure to those passengers,

and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 11, 1999

Mr. SHELBY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To promote competition and greater efficiency of airlines

to ensure the rights of airline passengers, to provide

for full disclosure to those passengers, and for other

purposes.

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 Deregulation

5 and Disclosure Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. AIRLINE PASSENGER PROTECTION.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 417 of

3 title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the

4 end the following:

5 ‘‘§ 41716. Air carrier passenger protection

6 ‘‘(a) DELAY, CANCELLATION, OR DIVERSION.—

7 ‘‘(1) EXPLANATION OF DELAY, CANCELLATION,

8 OR DIVERSION REQUIRED.—An announcement by an

9 air carrier of a delay or cancellation of a flight, or

10 a diversion of a flight to an airport other than the

11 airport at which the flight is scheduled to land, shall

12 include an explanation of each reason for the delay,

13 cancellation, or diversion.

14 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION ON FALSE OR MISLEADING

15 EXPLANATIONS.—No air carrier shall provide an ex16 planation under paragraph (1) that the air carrier

17 knows or has reason to know is false or misleading.

18 ‘‘(3) DELAYS AFTER ENPLANING OR BEFORE

19 DEPLANING.—

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in

21 subparagraph (B), no air carrier may require a

22 passenger on a flight of that air carrier to re23 main onboard an aircraft for a period longer

24 than 2 hours after—

25 ‘‘(i) the passenger enplaned, in any

26 case in which the aircraft has not taken
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1 flight from the airport during that period;

2 or

3 ‘‘(ii) the aircraft has landed at an air4 port, if the aircraft remains in that airport

5 without taking flight.

6 ‘‘(B) ELECTION.—A passenger described

7 in subparagraph (A) may remain onboard an

8 aircraft described in clause (i) or (ii) of that

9 subparagraph for a period longer than the ap10 plicable period described in that subparagraph,

11 if, not later than the end of that 2-hour

12 period—

13 ‘‘(i) the air carrier offers the pas14 senger an opportunity to deplane with a

15 full refund of air fare; and

16 ‘‘(ii) the passenger declines that

17 offer.’’.

18 ‘‘(b) ECONOMIC CANCELLATIONS.—

19 ‘‘(1) NONSAFETY CANCELLATIONS.—If, on the

20 date a flight of an air carrier is scheduled, the car21 rier cancels the flight for any reason other than

22 safety, the carrier shall provide to each passenger

23 that purchased air transportation on the flight a re24 fund of the amount paid for the air transportation.
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1 ‘‘(2) CANCELLATIONS FOR SAFETY.—A can2 cellation for safety is a cancellation made by reason

3 of—

4 ‘‘(A) an insufficient number of crew mem5 bers;

6 ‘‘(B) weather;

7 ‘‘(C) a mechanical problem; or

8 ‘‘(D) any other matter that prevents—

9 ‘‘(i) the safe operation of the flight; or

10 ‘‘(ii) the flight from operating in ac11 cordance with applicable regulations of the

12 Federal Aviation Administration.

13 ‘‘(c) CODE SHARING.—An air carrier, foreign air car14 rier, or ticket agent may sell air transportation in the

15 United States for a flight that bears a designator code

16 of a carrier other than the carrier that will provide the

17 air transportation, only if the carrier or ticket agent sell18 ing the air transportation first informs the person pur19 chasing the air transportation that the carrier providing

20 the air transportation will be a carrier other than the car21 rier whose designator code is used to identify the flight.

22 ‘‘(d) MULTIPLE FLIGHTS.—An air carrier, foreign

23 air carrier, or ticket agent that sells air transportation in

24 the United States that requires taking flights on more

25 than 1 aircraft shall be required to provide notification
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1 on a ticket, receipt, or itinerary provided to the purchaser

2 of that air transportation that the passenger shall be re3 quired to change aircraft.

4 ‘‘(e) AIR CARRIER PRICING POLICIES.—An air car5 rier may not—

6 ‘‘(1) prohibit a person (including a govern7 mental entity) that purchases air transportation

8 from only using a portion of the air transportation

9 purchased (including using the air transportation

10 purchased only for 1-way travel instead of round-trip

11 travel); or

12 ‘‘(2) assess an additional fee or charge for

13 using only a portion of that purchased air transpor14 tation to be paid by—

15 ‘‘(A) that person; or

16 ‘‘(B) any ticket agent that sold the air

17 transportation to that person.

18 ‘‘(f) EQUITABLE FARES; FREQUENT FLYER PRO19 GRAM AWARDS.—

20 ‘‘(1) REDUCED FARES.—Subject to paragraph

21 (2), if an air carrier makes seats available on a spe22 cific date at a reduced fare, that air carrier shall be

23 required to make available air transportation at that

24 reduced fare for any passenger that requests a seat
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1 at that reduced fare during a 24-hour period begin2 ning with the initial offering of that reduced fare.

3 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An air carrier shall

5 not be required under paragraph (1) to make a

6 seat available for a route at a reduced fare, if

7 providing that seat at that fare would result in

8 the air carrier being unable to provide, for the

9 24-hour period specified in that paragraph, the

10 applicable historic average number of seats of11 fered at an unreduced fare for the route, as de12 termined under subparagraph (B).

13 ‘‘(B) HISTORIC AVERAGE.—With respect

14 to a route, the historic average number of seats

15 offered at an unreduced fare for the route is

16 the average number of seats offered at an unre17 duced fare per day by an air carrier for flights

18 scheduled on that route during the 24-month

19 period preceding the 24-hour period specified in

20 paragraph (1).

21 ‘‘(3) STANDBY USE OF TICKETS.—An air car22 rier shall permit an individual to use a ticket (or

23 equivalent electronic record) issued by that air car24 rier on a standby basis for any flight that has the
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1 same origin and destination as are indicated on that

2 ticket (or equivalent electronic record).

3 ‘‘(4) FREQUENT FLYER PROGRAM AWARDS.—

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara5 graph (C), in a manner consistent with applica6 ble requirements of a frequent flyer program, if

7 an air carrier makes any seat available on a

8 specific date for use by a person redeeming an

9 award under that frequent flyer program on

10 any route in air transportation provided by the

11 air carrier, that air carrier shall, to the extent

12 practicable during the 24-hour period beginning

13 with the redemption of that award—

14 ‘‘(i) redeem any other award under

15 that frequent flyer program for air trans16 portation on that route; and

17 ‘‘(ii) make a seat available for the per18 son who redeems that other award on a

19 flight on that route.

20 ‘‘(B) STANDBY USE OF FREQUENT FLYER

21 PROGRAM AWARDS.—An air carrier shall permit

22 an individual to redeem a ticket (or equivalent

23 electronic record) acquired through a frequent

24 flyer award on a standby basis for any flight

25 that has the same origin and destination as are
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1 indicated on that ticket (or equivalent electronic

2 record).

3 ‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—

4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—An air carrier shall

5 not be required under subparagraph (A) to

6 make a seat available for a route for use

7 by a person redeeming a frequent flyer

8 award, if providing that seat to that person

9 would result in the air carrier being unable

10 to provide, for the 24-hour period specified

11 in that paragraph, the applicable historic

12 average number of seats offered at an un13 reduced fare for the route, as determined

14 under clause (ii).

15 ‘‘(ii) HISTORIC AVERAGE.—With re16 spect to a route, the historic average num17 ber of seats offered at an unreduced fare

18 for the route is the average number of

19 seats offered at an unreduced fare per day

20 by an air carrier for flights scheduled on

21 that route during the 24-month period pre22 ceding the 24-hour period specified in sub23 paragraph (A).

24 ‘‘(g) ACCESS TO ALL FARES.—Each air carrier oper25 ating in the United States shall make information con-
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1 cerning all fares for air transportation charged by that

2 air carrier available to the public, through—

3 ‘‘(1) computer-based technology; and

4 ‘‘(2) means other than computer-based tech5 nology.’’.

6 (b) PENALTIES.—Section 46301(a)(1)(A) of title 49,

7 United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘or 41715 of

8 this title’’ and inserting ‘‘, 41715, or 41716 of this title’’.

9 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec10 tions for chapter 417 of title 49, United States Code, is

11 amended by inserting after the item relating to section

12 41715 the following:

‘‘41716. Air carrier passenger protection.’’.

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