[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 28 (Tuesday, February 23, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E258]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE AIRLINE PASSENGER FAIRNESS ACT OF 1999

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 23, 1999

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support and acknowledge every 
airline passenger's right to a certain minimum of service. For this 
reason, I have joined my Senate colleagues Senator Ron Wyden and 
Senator John McCain in introducing the Airline Passenger Fairness Act 
of 1999, H.R. 752.
  This bill requires airlines to give passengers, their customers, 
decent and quality service. Once upon a time, customers could count on 
industry and businesses to provide quality customer service as the 
price of doing business. Yet, lately, this industry seems to be 
operating under the philosophy that their customers need them more than 
they need their customers. The abuses have been plentiful and varied, 
passengers have suffered from a shortage of seating, late or canceled 
flights without explanation, nonrefundable tickets, and failure to 
disclose information that would enable them to make informed decisions 
about various airline rates.
  The facts bare me out on this position. The 1998 Department of 
Transportation report stated that large United States air carriers 
charge twice as much as their large hub airports, where there is no low 
fare competition as they charge at a hub airport where a low fare 
competitor is present. Incredibly, the General Accounting Office 
discovered that fares range from 12 to 17 percent higher at hubs 
dominated by one carrier or a consortium. Also, the Department of 
Transportation's Domestic Airline Fares Consumer Report for the Third 
Quarter of 1997 listed seventy-five major city pairs where fares 
increased by 30 percent or more year-by-year, while total traffic in 
these cities pairs decreased by 863,500 passengers, or more than 20 
percent.
  This Congress should be about the work of reaffirming citizens rights 
in all aspects of their life. We have introduced the, ``Patient's Bill 
of Rights'' for those individuals who seek medical assistance, and we 
must support ``The Flight Bill of Rights'' for the 600 million people 
who use this mode of transportation per year and are increasingly 
dissatisfied and endangered by substandard service and treatment.

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