Political Quotes

“first I express my thanks to the bipartisan leadership of the committee, Chairman Shelby, who has been extraordinarily helpful on this matter, which is a critical issue of protecting the rights of airline passengers in this country, and I also thank my longtime friend, Senator Lautenberg, who has spent a great deal of time with me on this issue over the last few months. The bipartisan leadership of this committee stands out in the Congress in terms of trying to ensure that airline passengers get a fair shake. It is high time, Mr. President, and colleagues. Last year, we saw an unprecedented increase in the number of complaints by airline passengers about shoddy service. In the first 6 months of this year, we have seen another unprecedented increase in complaints by passengers of airline service. This is the first of two amendments I intend to offer with the chairman of the subcommittee, Mr. Shelby, and the ranking minority member, Mr. Lautenberg, to try to balance the scales and ensure that the passengers get a fair shake and, in particular, get information about key services, such as the lowest fare, and accurately be told when a flight is overbooked. I emphasize to my colleagues that I am not proposing the Congress establish a constitutional right to a fluffy pillow on an airplane flight or a jumbo bag of peanuts. But I think airline passengers have a right to timely and accurate information.”