I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1792

To amend title 49, United States Code, to ensure that air carriers meet

their obligations under the Airline Customer Service Agreement, and

provide improved passenger service in order to meet public convenience

and necessity.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 9, 2001

Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma introduced the following bill; which was referred to

the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

A BILL

To amend title 49, United States Code, to ensure that air

carriers meet their obligations under the Airline Customer Service Agreement, and provide improved passenger service in order to meet public convenience and

necessity.

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 Customer Serv5 ice Improvement Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) Airline traffic in the United States is in2 creasing. The number of passengers carried by

3 United States air carriers has nearly tripled since

4 1978, to over 660 million annually. The number is

5 expected to grow to more than 1 billion by 2010.

6 The number of domestic flights has been steadily in7 creasing as well.

8 (2) The Inspector General of the Department of

9 Transportation has found that this growth in traffic

10 has been accompanied by increases in delays, can11 cellations, and customer dissatisfaction with air car12 rier service.

13 (A) The Federal Aviation Administration

14 has reported that, between 1995 and 2000,

15 delays increased 90 percent and cancellations

16 increased 104 percent. In 2000, over 1 in 4

17 flights were delayed, canceled, or diverted, af18 fecting approximately 163 million passengers.

19 (B) At the 30 largest United States air20 ports, the number of flights with taxi-out times

21 of 1 hour or more increased 165 percent be22 tween 1995 and 2000. The number of flights

23 with taxi-out times of 4 hours or more in24 creased 341 percent during the same period.
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1 (C) Certain flights, particularly those

2 scheduled during peak periods at the nation’s

3 busiest airports, are subject to chronic delays.

4 In December, 2000, 626 regularly scheduled

5 flights arrived late 70 percent of the time or

6 more, as reported by the Department of Trans7 portation.

8 (D) The number of consumer complaints

9 filed with the Department of Transportation

10 about airline travel has nearly quadrupled since

11 1995. According to the Department of Trans12 portation’s Inspector General, air carriers re13 ceive between 100 and 400 complaints for every

14 complaint filed with the Department of Trans15 portation.

16 (3) During the same time period in which the

17 number of complaints about airline travel has in18 creased, the resources devoted to the Department of

19 Transportation’s handling of such complaints have

20 declined sharply. The Department of Transpor21 tation’s Inspector General has reported that the

22 staffing of the Department of Transportation office

23 responsible for handling airline customer service

24 complaints declined from 40 in 1985 to just 17 in

25 2000.
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1 (4) In June, 1999, the Air Transport Associa2 tion and its member airlines agreed to an Airline

3 Customer Service Commitment designed to address

4 mounting consumer dissatisfaction and improve cus5 tomer service in the industry.

6 (5) The Inspector General of the Department of

7 Transportation has found that the airlines’ vol8 untary commitment to better service, set forth in the

9 Airline Customer Service Commitment, has resulted

10 in positive changes in how air travelers are treated.

11 (6) While the Inspector General’s final report

12 noted that the voluntary effort has produced benefits

13 faster than would a legislative or regulatory man14 date, which could have taken years to implement,

15 the Inspector General has recommended additional

16 changes that require legislation and regulations.

17 (7) The Airline Customer Service Commitment

18 has prompted the airlines to address consumer con19 cerns in many areas, ranging from providing infor20 mation more accurately on delays to explaining that

21 lower fares may be available through the Internet.

22 (8) Air carriers need to do more, in the areas

23 under their control, to reduce over-scheduling, the

24 number of chronically late or chronically canceled
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1 flights, and the amount of checked baggage that

2 does not show up with the passenger upon arrival.

3 (9) The airlines were cooperative with, and re4 sponsive to, many of the suggestions the Inspector

5 General made in the interim report last year.

6 (10) The Inspector General has determined

7 that, while there has been significant progress in im8 proving airline customer service, certain areas cov9 ered by the Airline Customer Service Commitment

10 are in need of significant clarification and improve11 ment and, where appropriate, enforcement action.

12 SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO DEVOTE

13 GREATER RESOURCES TO AIRLINE PAS14 SENGER CONSUMER PROTECTION.

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transportation

16 shall increase the resources of the Department of Trans17 portation allocated to providing—

18 (1) airline passenger consumer protection and

19 related services; and

20 (2) oversight and enforcement of laws and regu21 lations within the jurisdiction of the Department

22 that provide protection for air travelers.

23 (b) REPORT.—Within 60 days after the date of enact24 ment of this Act, the Secretary shall report to the Senate

25 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
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1 and the House Committee on Transportation and Infra2 structure measures taken by the Secretary to carry out

3 subsection (a), together with a request for additional

4 funds or measures, if necessary, to carry out that sub5 section fully.

6 SEC. 4. AIRLINE CUSTOMER SERVICE COMMITMENT.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 417 of title 49, United

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing:

10 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER IV—AIRLINE CUSTOMER

11 SERVICE

12 ‘‘§ 41781. Airline customer service requirements

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Within 60 days after the date

14 of enactment of the Airline Customer Service Improve15 ment Act, each large air carrier shall incorporate in its

16 contract of carriage—

17 ‘‘(1) the provisions of the Airline Customer

18 Service Commitment executed by the Air Transport

19 Association and 14 of its member airlines on June

20 17, 1999; and

21 ‘‘(2) its customer service plan developed in ac22 cordance with that Commitment to the extent that

23 the plan is more specific or broader than the Com24 mitment.
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1 ‘‘(b) ADDITIONAL OBLIGATIONS.—Within 60 days

2 after the date of enactment of the Airline Customer Serv3 ice Improvement Act, each large air carrier shall institute

4 the following practices:

5 ‘‘(1) Provide to customers at an airport and on

6 board an aircraft, in a timely, reasonable, and truth7 ful manner, the best information available to the air

8 carrier regarding a delay, cancellation, or diversion

9 affecting the customers’ flight, including—

10 ‘‘(A) the cause of any such delay, cancella11 tion, or diversion; and

12 ‘‘(B) for a delayed flight, the air carrier’s

13 best estimate of the departure time.

14 ‘‘(2) Offer the lowest fare available for which a

15 customer is eligible at the air carrier’s ticket offices

16 and airport ticket service counters for the date,

17 flight, and class of service requested.

18 ‘‘(3) Notify customers that lower fares may be

19 available through other distribution systems, includ20 ing Internet websites.

21 ‘‘(4) Provide, no later than the 5th day of each

22 month, the air carrier’s on-time performance rate for

23 each scheduled flight for the most recently ended

24 month for which data is available through its Inter25 net website.
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1 ‘‘(5) Disclose, without being requested, the on2 time performance and cancellation rate for a chron3 ically delayed or chronically canceled flight whenever

4 a customer makes a reservation or purchases a tick5 et on such a flight.

6 ‘‘(6) Establish a plan with respect to pas7 sengers who must unexpectedly remain overnight

8 during a trip due to flight delays, cancellations, or

9 diversions.

10 ‘‘(7) Tell all passengers on a flight what the air

11 carrier is required to pay passengers involuntarily

12 denied boarding before making offers to passengers

13 to induce them to relinquish seats voluntarily.

14 ‘‘(c) COMPLIANCE ASSURANCE.—

15 ‘‘(1) AIR CARRIER FUNCTIONS.—Each large air

16 carrier also shall—

17 ‘‘(A) establish a customer service quality

18 assurance and performance measurement sys19 tem within 90 days after the date of enactment

20 of the Airline Customer Service Improvement

21 Act;

22 ‘‘(B) establish an internal audit process to

23 measure compliance with the commitments and

24 obligations under subsections (a) and (b) within
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1 90 days after the date of enactment of the Air2 line Customer Service Improvement Act; and

3 ‘‘(C) cooperate fully with any Department

4 of Transportation audit of its customer service

5 quality assurance system or review of its inter6 nal audit.

7 ‘‘(2) DOT FUNCTIONS.—The Secretary of

8 Transportation shall—

9 ‘‘(A) monitor compliance by large air car10 riers with the requirements of this section and

11 take such action under subpart IV of this title

12 as may be necessary to enforce compliance with

13 this section under subpart IV of this title;

14 ‘‘(B) monitor, in particular, and enforce

15 air carrier performance under paragraphs (1),

16 (2), (3), (5), and (7) of subsection (b), focusing

17 on practices and patterns of conduct rather

18 than specific incidents of failure to follow the

19 air carrier’s established practices;

20 ‘‘(C) monitor air carrier customer service

21 quality assurance and performance measure22 ment systems to ensure that air carriers are

23 meeting fully their airline passenger service

24 commitments; and
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1 ‘‘(D) review the internal audits conducted

2 by air carriers of their air carrier customer

3 service quality assurance and performance

4 measurement systems.

5 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

6 ‘‘(1) LARGE AIR CARRIER.—The term ‘large air

7 carrier’ means an air carrier holding a certificate

8 issued under section 41102 that conducts scheduled

9 passenger air transportation and—

10 ‘‘(A) operates aircraft designed to have a

11 maximum passenger capacity of more than 60

12 seats or a maximum payload capacity of more

13 than 18,000 pounds; or

14 ‘‘(B) conducts operations where one or

15 both terminals of a flight stage are outside the

16 50 States of the United States, the District of

17 Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

18 and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

19 ‘‘(2) CHRONICALLY DELAYED FLIGHT.—The

20 term ‘chronically delayed flight’ means a regularly

21 scheduled flight that has failed to arrive on time (as

22 defined in section 234.2 of title 14, Code of Federal

23 Regulations) at least 40 percent of the time during

24 the most recent 3-month period for which data are

25 available.
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1 ‘‘(3) CHRONICALLY CANCELED FLIGHT.—The

2 term ‘chronically canceled flight’ means a regularly

3 scheduled flight at least 30 percent of the departures

4 of which have been canceled during the most recent

5 3-month period for which data are available.’’.

6 (b) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 46301(a)(7) of title 49,

7 United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘40127 or

8 41712’’ and inserting ‘‘40127, 41712, or 41781’’.

9 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The chapter anal10 ysis for chapter 417 of title 49, United States Code, is

11 amended by adding at the end the following:

‘‘SUBCHAPTER IV—AIRLINE CUSTOMER SERVICE

‘‘41781. Airline customer service requirements.’’.

12 SEC. 5. OTHER SERVICE-ENHANCING IMPROVEMENTS.

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Within 90 days after the date of

14 enactment of this Act, each large air carrier (as defined

15 in section 41781(d)(1) of title 49, United States Code)

16 shall—

17 (1) establish realistic targets for reducing

18 chronically delayed and chronically canceled flights;

19 (2) establish a system passengers may use be20 fore departing for the airport to determine whether

21 there is a lengthy flight delay or whether a flight has

22 been canceled;

23 (3) establish realistic performance goals for re24 ducing the number of mishandled bags;
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1 (4) develop and implement a system for track2 ing and documenting the amount of time between

3 the receipt of a passenger’s claim for missing bag4 gage and the delivery of the baggage to the pas5 senger, including the time taken by a courier or

6 other delivery service to deliver found baggage to the

7 passenger;

8 (5) monitor and report its efforts to improve

9 services provided to passengers with disabilities and

10 special needs, including services provided at airports

11 such as check-in, passenger security screening (par12 ticularly for passengers who use wheelchairs), board13 ing, and disembarkation;

14 (6) clarify terminology used to advise pas15 sengers of unscheduled delays or interruptions in

16 service, such as ‘‘extended period of time’’ and

17 ‘‘emergency’’, in order to inform passengers better

18 about what they can expect during on-board delays;

19 (7) ensure that comprehensive passenger service

20 contingency plans are properly maintained and that

21 the plans, and any changes to those plans, are co22 ordinated with local airport authorities and the Fed23 eral Aviation Administration;

24 (8) ensure that master airport flight informa25 tion display monitors contain accurate, up-to-date
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1 flight information and that the information is con2 sistent with that shown on the carrier’s flight infor3 mation display monitors;

4 (9) establish a toll-free telephone number that

5 a passenger may use to check on the status of

6 checked baggage that was not delivered on arrival at

7 the passenger’s destination;

8 (10) if it maintains a domestic code-share ar9 rangement with another air carrier, conclude an

10 agreement under which it will conduct an annual

11 audit of the code-share air carrier’s compliance with

12 the Airline Customer Service Commitment; and

13 (11) if it has a frequent flyer program, make

14 available to the public a comprehensive report of fre15 quent flyer redemption information in its customer

16 literature and annual reports, including information

17 on the percentage of successful redemption of fre18 quent flyer awards and the number of seats available

19 for such awards in the air carrier’s top 100 origin

20 and destination markets.

21 (b) INITIAL RESPONSE REPORTS.—

22 (1) AIR CARRIERS.—Within 90 days after the

23 date of enactment of this Act, each large air carrier

24 shall report to the Secretary of Transportation on
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1 its implementation of the obligations imposed on it

2 by this Act.

3 (2) SECRETARY.—Within 270 days after the

4 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of

5 Transportation shall report to the Congress on the

6 implementation by large air carriers of the obliga7 tions imposed on them by this Act, together with

8 such additional findings and recommendations for

9 additional legislative or regulatory action as the Sec10 retary deems appropriate.

11 SEC. 6. IMPROVED DOT STATISTICS.

12 (a) MISSING BAGGAGE.—In calculating and reporting

13 the rate of mishandled baggage for air carriers, the De14 partment of Transportation shall not take into account

15 passengers who do not check any baggage.

16 (b) CHRONICALLY DELAYED OR CANCELED

17 FLIGHTS.—The Office of Aviation Enforcement and Pro18 ceedings of the Department of Transportation, in coordi19 nation with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics of the

20 Department of Transportation, shall include a table in the

21 Air Travel Consumer Report that shows flights that are

22 chronically delayed or chronically canceled (as defined in

23 section 41781(d) (2) and (3), respectively, of title 49,

24 United States Code).
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1 SEC. 7. DOT REGULATIONS ON BUMPING.

2 (a) UNIFORM CHECK-IN DEADLINE.—The Secretary

3 of Transportation shall initiate a rulemaking within 30

4 days after the date of enactment of this Act to amend

5 the Department of Transportation’s Regulations to con6 sider establishing a uniform check-in deadline and to re7 quire air carriers to disclose, both in their contracts of

8 carriage and on ticket jackets, their policies on how those

9 deadlines apply to passengers making connections.

10 (b) BUMPED PASSENGER COMPENSATION.—The Sec11 retary of Transportation shall initiate a rulemaking within

12 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act to amend

13 section 250.5 of the Department of Transportation’s Reg14 ulations (14 C.F.R. 250.5) governing the amount of de15 nied boarding compensation for passengers denied board16 ing involuntarily to increase the maximum amount there17 of.

18 (c) CLARIFY CERTAIN TERMS.—The Secretary of

19 Transportation shall clarify the terms ‘‘any undue or un20 reasonable preference or advantage’’ and ‘‘unjust or un21 reasonable prejudice or disadvantage’’, as used in section

22 250.3 of the Department of Transportation’s Regulations

23 (14 C.F.R. 250.3), for purposes of air carrier priority

24 rules or criteria for passengers denied boarding involun25 tarily.
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1 SEC. 8. STUDY OF DAMAGE TO PASSENGERS WITH DISABIL2 ITIES’ EQUIPMENT.

3 The Secretary of Transportation shall conduct a

4 study of incidents of damage to equipment of passengers

5 with disabilities attributable to air carriers’ treatment of

6 that equipment.

7 SEC. 9. REVIEW OF REGULATIONS.

8 Within 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act,

9 the Secretary shall complete a thorough review of the De10 partment of Transportation’s regulations that relate to air

11 carriers’ treatment of customers, and make such modifica12 tions as may be necessary or appropriate to promote the

13 purposes of this Act or otherwise protect consumers.

14 SEC. 10. EMERGENCY MEDICAL ASSISTANCE.

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

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

17 end the following:

18 ‘‘§ 41722. Airline passenger emergency in-flight med19 ical care

20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transportation

21 shall prescribe regulations to establish minimum stand22 ards for resuscitation, emergency medical, and first-aid

23 equipment and supplies to be carried on-board an aircraft

24 operated by an air carrier in air transportation that is ca25 pable of carrying at least 30 passengers.
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1 ‘‘(b) FACTORS CONSIDERED.—In prescribing regula2 tions under subsection (a), the Secretary shall consider—

3 ‘‘(1) the weight and size of the equipment de4 scribed in subsection (a);

5 ‘‘(2) the need for special training of air carrier

6 personnel to operate the equipment safely and effec7 tively;

8 ‘‘(3) the space limitations of each type of air9 craft to which the standards apply;

10 ‘‘(4) the effect of the regulations on aircraft op11 erations;

12 ‘‘(5) the practical experience of airlines in car13 rying and operating similar equipment, and whether

14 any air carriers are already training appropriate per15 sonnel to an acceptable level of proficiency in the op16 eration of such equipment and the provision of first17 aid; and

18 ‘‘(6) such other factors as the Secretary finds

19 relevant.

20 ‘‘(c) CONSULTATION WITH SURGEON GENERAL.—

21 Before prescribing regulations under subsection (a), the

22 Secretary shall consult with the Surgeon General of the

23 United States.’’.

24 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The chapter anal25 ysis for chapter 417 of title 49, United States Code, is
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1 amended by inserting after the item relating to section

2 41721 the following:

‘‘41722. Airline passenger emergency in-flight medical care.’’.

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