I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1303 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to improve air carrier passenger 

services. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 1, 2007 

Mr. THOMPSON of California (for himself, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. 

SHULER, Mr. SKELTON, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, 

Mr. FARR, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mr. HARE, Mr. MORAN of 

Virginia, Mr. FATTAH, and Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation 

and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to improve air carrier 

passenger services. 

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 Bill 

5 of Rights Act of 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AIR CARRIER PASSENGER SERVICES. 

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

3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER IV—AIR CARRIER PASSENGER 

6 SERVICES 

7 ‘‘§ 41781. Definitions 

8 ‘‘In this subchapter, the following definitions apply: 

9 ‘‘(1) AIR TRANSPORTATION.—The term ‘air 

10 transportation’ includes intrastate air transpor11 tation. 

12 ‘‘(2) COVERED AIR CARRIER.—The term ‘cov13 ered air carrier’ means an air carrier holding a cer14 tificate issued under section 41102 that conducts 

15 scheduled passenger air transportation. 

16 ‘‘§ 41782. Standards for air carrier passenger services 

17 ‘‘(a) PASSENGER COMPLAINTS.—A covered air car18 rier shall establish and implement procedures for handling 

19 complaints from passengers of the air carrier. 

20 ‘‘(b) DIVERSIONS, DELAYS, AND CANCELLATIONS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) NOTIFICATION OF PASSENGERS.—A cov22 ered air carrier shall provide customers at an airport 

23 and on board an aircraft, in a timely, reasonable, 

24 and truthful manner, the best information available 

25 to the air carrier regarding a delay, cancellation, or 

26 diversion affecting the customers’ flight, including— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the cause of the delay, cancellation, 

2 or diversion; and 

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

4 best estimate of departure time. 

5 ‘‘(2) METHODS FOR NOTIFICATION.—In com6 plying with this subsection, a covered air carrier 

7 shall use airport overhead announcements, on air8 craft announcements, and postings on airport tele9 vision monitors. 

10 ‘‘(c) DEPARTURE AND ARRIVAL DELAYS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) RIGHT OF PASSENGERS TO EXIT AN AIR12 CRAFT.—Subject to paragraph (2), a covered air 

13 carrier operating an aircraft in a flight in air trans14 portation shall establish and implement procedures 

15 to allow passengers to exit the aircraft in the case 

16 of a departure or arrival delay which would other17 wise require passengers to remain on the aircraft on 

18 the ground prior to departure or arrival for a period 

19 exceeding 3 hours. 

20 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) shall 

22 not apply— 

23 ‘‘(i) if the pilot of such flight reason24 able determines that such flight will depart 


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1 or arrive not later than 30 minutes after 

2 the 3-hour delay; or 

3 ‘‘(ii) if the pilot of such flight reason4 able determines that permitting a pas5 senger to deplane would jeopardize pas6 senger safety or security. 

7 ‘‘(B) EXTENSION OF 30-MINUTE PERIOD.— 

8 A pilot may extend the 30-minute period re9 ferred to in subparagraph (A)(i) by not more 

10 than an additional 30 minutes in the case of an 

11 unanticipated extension of the delay. 

12 ‘‘(3) ESSENTIAL SERVICES.—A covered air car13 rier operating an aircraft in air transportation shall 

14 provide for the essential needs of passengers at all 

15 times during which the aircraft is on the ground in 

16 the event of a departure or arrival delay, including 

17 the needs of passengers for food, water meeting the 

18 standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act or the 

19 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, as appro20 priate, sanitary facilities, medical access, adequate 

21 ventilation, and comfortable cabin temperatures. 

22 ‘‘(d) CHRONICALLY DELAYED FLIGHTS.— 

23 ‘‘(1) PUBLICATION OF LIST OF FLIGHTS.—A 

24 covered air carrier shall publish and update monthly 

25 on the Internet website of the air carrier a list of 


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1 chronically delayed flights operated by the air car2 rier. 

3 ‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE TO CUSTOMERS WHEN PUR4 CHASING TICKETS.—Regardless of the method used 

5 by a consumer to contact a covered air carrier, the 

6 air carrier shall disclose, without being requested, 

7 the on-time performance for a chronically delayed 

8 flight of the air carrier whenever a customer makes 

9 a reservation or purchases a ticket on such a flight. 

10 ‘‘(3) CHRONICALLY DELAYED FLIGHT DE11 FINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘chronically de12 layed flight’ means a regularly scheduled flight in air 

13 transportation that has failed to arrive within 30 

14 minutes of the scheduled arrival time of the flight at 

15 least 40 percent of the time during the most recent 

16 3-month period for which data is available. 

17 ‘‘(e) FARES, SCHEDULES, AND ITINERARIES.— 

18 ‘‘(1) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.—A cov19 ered air carrier shall publish lowest fare information, 

20 and information on schedules and itineraries, with 

21 respect to regularly scheduled flights of the air car22 rier in air transportation. 

23 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.—Infor24 mation to be published under paragraph (1) shall be 

25 updated in a timely manner and shall be made availVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:56 Mar 04, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1303.IH H1303

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1 able to the public on the Internet website of the air 

2 carrier. 

3 ‘‘(f) BAGGAGE.—If a passenger of a covered air car4 rier submits a claim to the air carrier for lost baggage, 

5 the air carrier shall make every reasonable effort to return 

6 the baggage to the passenger within 24 hours. 

7 ‘‘(g) PASSENGER RIGHTS NOTIFICATION.—A covered 

8 air carrier shall prominently display for passengers of the 

9 air carrier information outlining the consumer rights of 

10 the passengers, including the rights specified in this sec11 tion. 

12 ‘‘(h) CONTRACT OF CARRIAGE.—Each covered air 

13 carrier shall incorporate the consumer rights specified in 

14 this section into the contract of carriage of the air carrier. 

15 ‘‘§ 41783. Procedures for departure delays 

16 ‘‘(a) PROCEDURES TO PERMIT PILOTS TO RETURN

17 TO AIRPORT TERMINALS.—The Secretary of Transpor18 tation shall work in coordination with air carriers to en19 sure that a pilot operating an aircraft in a flight in air 

20 transportation that is affected by a long departure delay 

21 is permitted to return the aircraft to the airport terminal 

22 to allow passengers to exit the aircraft without losing the 

23 position of the flight in the departure sequence. 

24 ‘‘(b) CONTINGENCY PLANS FOR WEATHER EMER25 GENCIES.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) COORDINATION OF PLANS.—The Secretary 

2 shall review the emergency contingency plans of air 

3 carriers and airports to ensure that the plans will ef4 fectively address weather emergencies in a coordi5 nated manner. 

6 ‘‘(2) MEETING.—In carrying out this sub7 section, the Secretary shall convene a meeting of 

8 representatives of air carriers, airports, and the Fed9 eral Aviation Administration to develop procedures 

10 to better respond to weather emergencies resulting 

11 in long departure delays.’’. 

12 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis for 

13 chapter 417 of title 49, United States Code, is amended 

14 by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘SUBCHAPTER IV—AIR CARRIER PASSENGER SERVICES

‘‘41781. Definitions. 

‘‘41782. Standards for air carrier passenger services. 

‘‘41783. Procedures for departure delays.’’. 

15 (c) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 

16 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Trans17 portation shall issue final regulations to carry out section 

18 41782 of title 49, United States Code, as added by sub19 section (a) of this section. The regulations shall require 

20 covered air carriers to comply with the requirements of 

21 such section 41782 not later than one year after such date 

22 of enactment. 


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1 SEC. 3. DIVERTED FLIGHTS. 

2 (a) STUDY.—The Secretary of Transportation shall 

3 conduct a study of the ability of air carriers to provide 

4 for the essential needs of passengers, including adequate 

5 food and water, in cases in which a flight of the air carrier 

6 is diverted for an unscheduled landing at an airport due 

7 to a weather situation or other emergency 

8 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 180 days 

9 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

10 transmit to Congress a report on the results of the study, 

11 including methods for ensuring that the essential needs 

12 of passengers are met in the case of a diverted flight de13 scribed in subsection (a). 

Æ 


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