I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 659 

To prohibit air carriers from imposing fees that are not reasonable and 

proportional to the costs incurred by the air carriers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 31, 2023 

Mr. COHEN (for himself, Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. THOMPSON

of Mississippi, and Ms. SCHAKOWSKY) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To prohibit air carriers from imposing fees that are not 

reasonable and proportional to the costs incurred by 

the air carriers, 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 ‘‘Forbidding Airlines 

5 from Imposing Ridiculous Fees Act of 2023’’ or the 

6 ‘‘FAIR Fees Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REGULATIONS PROHIBITING THE IMPOSITION OF 

2 FEES THAT ARE NOT REASONABLE AND PRO3 PORTIONAL TO THE COSTS INCURRED. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 days after the 

5 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Trans6 portation shall prescribe regulations— 

7 (1) prohibiting an air carrier from imposing 

8 fees described in subsection (b) that are unreason9 able or disproportional to the costs incurred by the 

10 air carrier; and 

11 (2) establishing standards for assessing whether 

12 such fees are reasonable and proportional to the 

13 costs incurred by the air carrier. 

14 (b) FEES DESCRIBED.—The fees described in this 

15 subsection are— 

16 (1) any fee for a change or cancellation of a 

17 reservation for a flight in passenger air transpor18 tation; 

19 (2) any fee relating to checked or carry-on bag20 gage to be transported on a flight in passenger air 

21 transportation; 

22 (3) any fee relating to the choice or assignment 

23 of seats on a flight in passenger air transportation; 

24 and 

25 (4) any other fee imposed by an air carrier re26 lating to a flight in passenger air transportation. 


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1 (c) CONSIDERATIONS.—In establishing the standards 

2 required by subsection (a)(2), the Secretary shall con3 sider— 

4 (1) with respect to a fee described in subsection 

5 (b)(1) imposed by an air carrier for a change or can6 cellation of a flight reservation— 

7 (A) any net benefit or cost to the air car8 rier from the change or cancellation, taking into 

9 consideration— 

10 (i) the ability of the air carrier to an11 ticipate the expected average number of 

12 cancellations and changes and make res13 ervations accordingly; 

14 (ii) the ability of the air carrier to fill 

15 a seat made available by a change or can16 cellation; 

17 (iii) any difference in the fare likely to 

18 be paid for a ticket sold to another pas19 senger for a seat made available by the 

20 change or cancellation, as compared to the 

21 fare that was paid for the seat for which 

22 the reservation was changed or canceled; 

23 and 

24 (iv) the likelihood that the passenger 

25 changing or canceling the reservation will, 


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1 as a result, fill a seat on another flight by 

2 the same air carrier; 

3 (B) the costs of processing the change or 

4 cancellation electronically; and 

5 (C) any related labor costs; 

6 (2) with respect to a fee described in subsection 

7 (b)(2) imposed by an air carrier relating to checked 

8 baggage— 

9 (A) the costs of processing checked bag10 gage electronically; and 

11 (B) any related labor costs; 

12 (3) with respect to a fee described in subsection 

13 (b)(3) imposed by an air carrier relating to the 

14 choice or assignment of seats on a flight in pas15 senger air transportation, ensuring that passengers 

16 traveling with children age 13 or younger are able 

17 to be seated with those children at no additional 

18 charge to the passengers traveling with such chil19 dren or to any other passenger traveling on the 

20 flight involved; and 

21 (4) any other considerations the Secretary con22 siders appropriate. 

23 (d) UPDATED REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall 

24 update the standards required by subsection (a)(2) not 

25 less frequently than every 3 years. 


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1 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 (1) AIR CARRIER.—The term ‘‘air carrier’’ 

3 means any air carrier that holds an air carrier cer4 tificate under section 41101 of title 49, United 

5 States Code. 

6 (2) PASSENGER AIR TRANSPORTATION.—The 

7 term ‘‘passenger air transportation’’ means, with re8 spect to the transportation of passengers by aircraft 

9 as a common carrier for compensation, foreign air 

10 transportation, interstate air transportation, and 

11 intrastate air transportation, as such terms are de12 fined in section 40102 of title 49, United States 

13 Code. 

Æ 


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