WASHINGTON, DC– U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar today released the following statement on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) new actions to protect air travelers and promote airline competition. These actions, some of which Klobuchar has pushed for and supported as a member of the Senate Aviation Subcommittee, include requiring refunds for delayed baggage, expanding the number of carriers required to report data, providing consumers with transparency of baggage delivery policies, prohibiting undisclosed bias by airlines and online ticket agents, protecting air travelers with disabilities, and reauthorizing the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protection.
“Airline passengers deserve to be treated fairly and with respect when they book travel, when they are in the air, and once they land,” said Klobuchar. “I pushed hard for an airline Passenger Bill of Rights after hearing too many travel horror stories from Minnesotans stranded on tarmacs for hours on end without recourse. These new actions build on our previous efforts and will help ensure that consumers have access to more information so they can make informed decisions when choosing a flight and expand consumer protections, including requiring passenger refunds for delayed baggage. We need to continue working to make flying easier and more transparent for the public.”
Klobuchar, a member of the Commerce Committee’s Aviation Subcommittee, is a national leader for passenger protections in aviation. She was a leading advocate for the Passenger Bill of Rights which protects consumer from unreasonable tarmac delays. She supported the establishment of the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protection during the 2012 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization. She has also supported efforts to ensure that ancillary fees are reasonable and proportional to actual cost of providing the service. She also introduced the Stop Trafficking on Planes (STOP) Act to require training for flight attendants on recognizing and reporting suspected human trafficking. A provision based on this bill was included in the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act that was signed into law earlier this year.
Klobuchar has also been a leader in protecting consumers when they purchases airline tickets through third parties online. In September she wrote a letter with Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) urging Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and DOT to investigate reported deceptive practices by fraudulent online travel booking websites. During a Judiciary Committee oversight hearing in March, she pushed the FTC to investigate deceptive manipulation of search results by some online travel agencies. She is also a cosponsor of the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act to protect consumers from scammers using ticket bots to unfairly cut the line to buy concert and event tickets online and she is a cosponsor of the Stop Online Booking Scams Act to crack down on fraudulent third-party website that trick consumers into thinking they are booking directly with an actual hotel.
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