The legislation includes important Klobuchar provisions requiring large ticket sellers to adopt minimum customer service standards and language to ensure that cold weather state construction projects receive priority review 

WASHINGTON– U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) announced the Senate passage of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act of 2018. This five-year funding bill provides needed certainty for the aviation industry while enhancing consumer protections and passenger safety. The legislation directs the FAA to set minimum leg room, width and length requirements for passenger seats on commercial flights and prohibits the involuntary bumping of passengers who have already boarded an aircraft. It also maintains critical investments that will help to modernize and maintain aviation infrastructure.

The legislation also provides important investments in regional airports, including an increase in funding for the Essential Air Service program to help maintain the operations of regional airports in Minnesota and across the country as well as a progressive increase in funding for discretionary grants to small or medium-sized airports located outside metropolitan areas.

“This legislation pushes back on the bad practice of airlines minimizing passenger seating space at the expense of our health, safety and comfort,” Klobuchar said. “I fought to include important consumer protections in this bill including a provision to ensure that whether a person books tickets directly with an airline or with a third party, they receive the same price disclosures and equal customer service. This legislation also includes my provisions prioritizing construction projects in cold weather states to accommodate our shorter construction window.”

Klobuchar has been a leader in the fight to improve customer service in the aviation industry and has long supported rural aviation. She serves on the Commerce Committee which provided major input into the final language of this bipartisan legislation. A key amendment to the legislation was included by Klobuchar to provide a consistent level of consumer protections regardless of where tickets are purchased.

In 2012, Senator Klobuchar included language in the FAA reauthorization prioritizing aviation related construction projects in cold-weather states to accommodate their limited construction season. Klobuchar’s language was once again included in this legislation. Klobuchar was also a cosponsor of the Passenger Bill of Rights, which requires airlines to provide passengers with food, water, and adequate restrooms during a tarmac delay. This bill was signed into law as a part of the 2012 FAA Reauthorization Act. The law also set a limit of three hours for how long a plane can sit on the ground with passengers aboard.

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