Frank Lautenberg: “Mr. President, I think what the Senator from Oregon is doing this morning is offering some help for sat-upon air…”

“Mr. President, I think what the Senator from Oregon is doing this morning is offering some help for sat-upon air passengers--people who are totally discouraged by the treatment they get from our airlines. I am not saying the airlines are not a good, effective part of our communications system or that they don't care. Not at all. But they have to be a little more sensitive to what the passengers need. The passengers need to know whether or not reservations they have made are going to be honored. They have to know whether or not they are buying right. If you go into a department store, you see signs telling you how much an article costs. When you call up an airline for reservations, you never know whether you have three seats in L class, or two seats in Y class, or six seats in E class, and you don't know whether you are getting what you are getting. I think there is an expression that is used commonly around here--``a right to know.'' The passengers have a right to know. They have a right to know that when they get to that airport, the seat they have reserved which they paid for is going to be available for them.”