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 Com-
mittee on Commerce and, in addition, to the Committee on Transpor-
tation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with-
in 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 ad-
vertisements by air carriers, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Airfare Advertising
Reform Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. FEDERAL REGULATION OF ADVERTISEMENTS BY
AIR CARRIERS.
(a) REGULATION BY FTC.—Section 5(a) of the Fed-
eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45(a)) is amended
by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
‘‘(4) Notwithstanding paragraph (2), the Commission
is empowered and directed to prevent air carriers and for-
eign air carriers subject to part A of subtitle VII of title
49, United States Code, from disseminating, or causing
dissemination of, any advertisement in violation of para-
graph (1), including any false, misleading, or deceptive ad-
vertisement.’’.
(b) AMENDMENT TO FEDERAL AVIATION ACT.—Sec-
tion 41712 of title 49, United States Code, is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘On’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) GEN-
ERAL RULE.—Subject to subsection (b), on’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(b) LIMITATION WITH RESPECT TO ADVERTISE-
MENTS BY AIR CARRIERS.—No action may be taken under
this section with respect to a violation of this section if
the violation also constitutes a violation of section 5(a)(1)
of the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Federal
Trade Commission is empowered to take an action with
respect to the violation pursuant to section 5(a)(4) of such
Act.’’.
SEC. 3. ADVERTISEMENT OF RATES FOR AIR TRANSPOR-
TATION BY AIR CARRIERS.
(a) ISSUANCE OF FINAL RULE.—Not later than 90
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Fed-
eral Trade Commission shall pursuant to section 18(a)(1)
of the Federal Trade Commission Act issue a final rule
which identifies methods of advertising rates for air trans-
portation by an air carrier or foreign air carrier which con-
stitute unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting
commerce (within the meaning of section 5(a)(1) of such
Act).
(b) MINIMUM REQUIREMENT.—The final rule issued
pursuant to subsection (a) shall at a minimum provide
that disseminating, or causing dissemination of, any writ-
ten advertisement for air transportation between 2 points
by an air carrier or foreign air carrier which contains a
rate for such air transportation shall constitute an unfair
or deceptive act or practice in or affecting commerce
(within the meaning of section 5(a)(1) of the Federal
Trade Commission Act) unless—
(1) the advertisement clearly and conspicuously
discloses all material restrictions governing the offer
to provide such air transportation at such rate;
(2) such rate includes all costs for obtaining
such air transportation (including any taxes, fees,
fuel, and other surcharges and mandatory charges)
and is the round trip rate (if purchase of a round
trip ticket is required for obtaining such rate); and
(3) the advertisement also contains (in print
which is adjacent to the print stating such rate and
which is not smaller than 1⁄4 of the size of the print
stating such rate) the minimum number of seats per
flight to which such rate applies.
For the purposes of paragraph (3), such rule shall provide
that the minimum number of seats referred to in such
paragraph may be stated separately for flights occurring
on different days of a week.
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