Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, while we have had some good news that airlines have improved their performance on various metrics in the past year, passengers continue to suffer frustrations. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, in 2017, 285,000 flights were delayed due to circumstances within the airlines' control. And last year, even though bumpings were down, over 23,000 were involuntarily denied boarding. When passengers are significantly delayed as a result of an event within the airlines' control, it only makes sense that airlines be required to accommodate them better. But in a competitive climate where passengers' expectation of service quality has declined significantly, the airlines won't make these passenger-friendly changes, and that is why we need this commonsense amendment. My amendment will require airlines to place a passenger who is delayed more than 3 hours onto another carrier, if that would be the quickest way to get the passenger to their destination. This would apply only to delays caused by an event within an air carrier's control, as defined by the Secretary of Transportation. In order to make this easier for the airlines, it will require all carriers to accept such rebookings for a reasonable fee. At one time, this was a common practice. Some airlines still have these agreements-- called interline agreements--with other airlines. And some have, in the past year, created new interline agreements.…”