Kate Hanni, Founder-President
Coalition for Airline Passengers' Rights, Health and Safety
707-337-0328
Cries of the Flying Public are finally heard
New Airline Passengers Rights Bill a victory
June 26th, 2008: A new, separate Bill providing significant relief for air passengers from extended on-board delays was welcomed today by Kate Hanni, Founder-President of the Coalition for Airline Passengers' Rights, Health and Safety, formerly Coalition for an Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights (CAPBOR). The new Bill, H.R. 6355 was introduced in Congress June 24 by Congressman James Oberstar, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and Congressman Jerry Costello, Chairman of the Aviation sub-committee.
“Despite frustrations inevitably encountered in the process, we are delighted that passengers’ rights are clearly now on the agenda of the House’s appropriate leadership,” Ms. Hanni said. “This Bill is intended to move passengers’ rights legislation along on its own merit, since similar passenger legislation was already passed by the House in the FAA Reauthorization Act, which has become stalled in the Senate,” she added.
H.R. 6355, the Air Service Improvement Act of 2008", requires air carriers and large and medium hub airports to file, emergency contingency plans with the Secretary of Transportation for her review and approval. The Secretary may establish minimum standards for plans and require airlines to modify the plans they submit. These plans must detail how the air carrier will provide food, water, restroom facilities, ventilation, and necessary medical treatment for passengers on board an aircraft that is on the ground for an extended time period without terminal access. The Coalition had fought hard for plans that required Transportation Department approval, as opposed to the voluntary plans the DOT, favored.
Airlines that do not comply are subject to a $25,000 per day penalty. The Bill will also establish an Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protection. Full Text of the Bill at:
The Coalition strongly urges everyone to contact his/her representative in Congress and insist that they co-sponsor H.R. 6355 to end the repeated incidents of passengers being held aboard airliners for prolonged periods without adequate food, water, ventilation and sanitary facilities.
The Coalition has 23,100 people and claims successes as the New York Passengers’ Bill of Rights, 2 DOT Rulemakings; one doubled compensation for Denied Boarding and the correct reporting of Diversions and Cancellations when “Stranded” on the Tarmac. For info: Kate Hanni 707-337-0328 or www.flyersrights.org. Kate@flyersrights.com directly.
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Monday, June 30, 2008
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2 comments:
I think you may need to amend this or launch another bill to address proposed security measures that do nothing to enhance safety.
The G8 consortium is pushing for airport customs officials to search portable media players for any alleged pirated content. How they would recognise it is another thing, but consider how long it now takes to get through an airport and how much time that would add.
Why can't we just have airport security focus on safety threats that passengers and crew face. There's no need for airpot security to be diverting attention to whether record labels are maximizing profits.
Various run-ins with airline security:
Just this month I went to pick my 81 yr old father and his girlfriend from Ontario Intl Airport (SoCal). Despite rush hour traffic, I arrived there just after his plane landed. Knowing I could not park or wait curbside, I crept along looking for him through the baggage claim window. When I saw him, I stopped and honked. He turned around and headed towards me and the automatic doors (he was 25-30 ft away). At that same moment an airport TSA officer tapped my driver side glass. I rolled down the window and he said I was not allowed to park or wait here. I pointed to my father who was nearly to the vehicle and said, “There he is” and popped the trunk as I exited the vehicle. My father and his girlfriend looked on distressed wondering how this was going to turn out.
After loading his luggage, I turned back to the officer who kept flipping pages of his ticket book in an irritated fashion. He started to list all the laws I was breaking (including Federal) and that my biggest mistake was not “respecting his authority” when told to leave. I said I thought my actions complied with the “passenger loading/unloading” rule but that I was sorry that I did not understand the ordinance. He said that they have to be curbside ready to get in the car immediately. I again apologized. With a look a disgust you would think was reserved for a driver who had just mowed down a group of school kids in the crosswalk, he closed his ticket book and walked away.
LESSON LEARNED: Think of airport curbside as a ‘hot’ LZ. Insertions/extractions must be done as if hostiles are ready to pounce, with the full weight of all local law enforcement and the Federal Government behind them. “Warnings” won’t even feel like warnings.
This other DHS/TSA type encounters post 9/11 have been:
* Upon being notified by the pilot that we’d be landing in 25 minutes, I skipped a final rest room break seeing that the line was pretty long, and we’d be down in bit, and the need to go wasn’t really strong at the moment. Turns out it took more like 50 minutes to land. Once we landed however, we sat on the tarmac for almost an hour. I considered using my water bottle for relief but thought to at least make an attempt being worried about being charged with a lewd act. I was 6 feet from the lavatory when the rear seat flight attendant said, “return to your seat or I’ll have Federal Marshalls arrest you.”
On the walk of shame back to my seat, many others (including elderly) asked in distress what she said. I simply made a gesture as if my hands were in cuffs and shook my head. When I finally made it to the restroom in the airport, I barely got unzipped before I broke loose. In retrospect, I should have pissed my pants there in the plane as they could not have said sh*t about a biological emergency and at least their people could have enjoyed being part of the clean-up as well.
LESSON LEARNED: Use a toilet, go to jail!
* Being told to step back behind the white line or be arrested by the guy who wipes bags with the cloth pad that indicates explosive traces because I tried to show him how to work the latch without breaking it.
LESSON LEARNED: TSA needs no help breaking your stuff.
* Having the checked luggage set off the spectrum analyzer at LAX (it looked like I won on a game show with bells and flashing lights - no balloons or confetti though) while an officious-looking man with surgeons gloves and a look of giddy expectation strode up with a small cardboard box to empty to contents of my suitcase into. I probably also looked guilty (sweating) as I had been without sleep the night before the flight as well as worried that a bag I’ve had since the early 70’s might have had something tucked away somewhere that I had overlooked.
At some point I was convinced I would be whisked away by DHS leaving my travel companion wondering what had happened (and she was travelling on business). I was still convinced that I would be taken into custody upon arriving in NYC.
As it was, there was the little card left in the luggage that TSA had done a secondary inspection (reminded of the hotel that leaves a mint on the pillow) and that ALL my single-use eye-drop applicators had been opened and squeezed dry. I saved all the TSA notices as mementoes and found they did exactly the same thing for the return trip.
LESSON LEARNED: (a) If your luggage ever carried incriminating materials of any kind, make sure you’re squeaky clean. (b) Don’t waste your money packing eye-drops; buy them at your final destination.
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Despite all this, I don’t feel any safer. In fact, considering the intrusions, the rudeness, the storm trooper mentality, and the shredding of the Constitution elsewhere, I feel much more vulnerable.
PLEASE DON’T CREATE A POLICE STATE ON MY ACCOUNT!
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