I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 545

To amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to provide for regulation

by the Federal Trade Commission of advertisements by air carriers,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 17, 1995

Mr. SCHUMER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce and, in addition, to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by

the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to provide

for regulation by the Federal Trade Commission of advertisements by 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 ‘‘Airfare Advertising

5 Reform Act of 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FEDERAL REGULATION OF ADVERTISEMENTS BY

2 AIR CARRIERS.

3 (a) REGULATION BY FTC.—Section 5(a) of the Fed4 eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45(a)) is amended

5 by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

6 ‘‘(4) Notwithstanding paragraph (2), the Commission

7 is empowered and directed to prevent air carriers and for8 eign air carriers subject to part A of subtitle VII of title

9 49, United States Code, from disseminating, or causing

10 dissemination of, any advertisement in violation of para11 graph (1), including any false, misleading, or deceptive ad12 vertisement.’’.

13 (b) AMENDMENT TO FEDERAL AVIATION ACT.—Sec14 tion 41712 of title 49, United States Code, is amended—

15 (1) by striking ‘‘On’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) GEN16 ERAL RULE.—Subject to subsection (b), on’’; and

17 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub18 section:

19 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION WITH RESPECT TO ADVERTISE20 MENTS BY AIR CARRIERS.—No action may be taken under

21 this section with respect to a violation of this section if

22 the violation also constitutes a violation of section 5(a)(1)

23 of the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Federal

24 Trade Commission is empowered to take an action with

25 respect to the violation pursuant to section 5(a)(4) of such

26 Act.’’.
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1 SEC. 3. ADVERTISEMENT OF RATES FOR AIR TRANSPOR2 TATION BY AIR CARRIERS.

3 (a) ISSUANCE OF FINAL RULE.—Not later than 90

4 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Fed5 eral Trade Commission shall pursuant to section 18(a)(1)

6 of the Federal Trade Commission Act issue a final rule

7 which identifies methods of advertising rates for air trans8 portation by an air carrier or foreign air carrier which con9 stitute unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting

10 commerce (within the meaning of section 5(a)(1) of such

11 Act).

12 (b) MINIMUM REQUIREMENT.—The final rule issued

13 pursuant to subsection (a) shall at a minimum provide

14 that disseminating, or causing dissemination of, any writ15 ten advertisement for air transportation between 2 points

16 by an air carrier or foreign air carrier which contains a

17 rate for such air transportation shall constitute an unfair

18 or deceptive act or practice in or affecting commerce

19 (within the meaning of section 5(a)(1) of the Federal

20 Trade Commission Act) unless—

21 (1) the advertisement clearly and conspicuously

22 discloses all material restrictions governing the offer

23 to provide such air transportation at such rate;

24 (2) such rate includes all costs for obtaining

25 such air transportation (including any taxes, fees,

26 fuel, and other surcharges and mandatory charges)
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1 and is the round trip rate (if purchase of a round

2 trip ticket is required for obtaining such rate); and

3 (3) the advertisement also contains (in print

4 which is adjacent to the print stating such rate and

which is not smaller than 1 5 ⁄4 of the size of the print

6 stating such rate) the minimum number of seats per

7 flight to which such rate applies.

8 For the purposes of paragraph (3), such rule shall provide

9 that the minimum number of seats referred to in such

10 paragraph may be stated separately for flights occurring

11 on different days of a week.

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