[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 39 (Thursday, March 11, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2603-S2604]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SHELBY:
  S. 603. A bill to promote competition and greater efficiency of 
airlines to ensure the rights of airline passengers, to provide for 
full disclosure to those passengers, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.


            airline deregulation and disclosure act of 1999

  Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, the legislation that abolished the Civil 
Aeronautics Board in 1978 and deregulated the airline industry has been 
a huge success. Americans are flying more, and more Americans are 
flying; at the same time, air fares have dropped and air travel has 
become safer. The average price of an airline ticket has decreased 
approximately 33 percent in real terms since market forces replaced the 
whims of federal bureaucrats in setting fares. The number of passengers 
flying domestic routes has more than doubled to approximately 600 
million annually. It is not surprising, then, that air travel is no 
longer an exclusive privilege of the elite and today is accessible to 
most Americans.
  While deregulation of the airline industry overall has yielded the 
benefits that free markets promise, there are growing pains. As the 
number of air passengers increases, so has the number of consumer 
complaints against air carriers. Some members of Congress have 
concluded that competition does not work for commercial aviation. They 
have stepped forward with proposals to reimpose federal control over 
air fares and carrier routes, to offer taxpayer subsidies to fledgling 
air carriers to compete against industry goliaths, or to levy a variety 
of new fines that would add to the Department of Transportation's duty 
the role of meter maid. We should be wary of any such effort to 
reintroduce the heavy hand of government under the auspices of 
protecting airline passengers.
  Mr. President, lets not rush to throw out the baby with the bath 
water and undo twenty years of unprecedented growth and consumer 
savings under deregulation. Now is the time to reinvigorate competition 
in the air passenger market, even if the air carriers do not welcome 
it. The best way to increase competition is to regulate less, not more. 
Regulations that serve as barriers to the commercial aviation market 
should be removed. Regulations that promote the division of the 
marketplace into regional cartels should be abandoned. Regulations and 
FAA management practices that delay the installation of new technology 
that facilitates competition should be streamlined.
  I believe that we can also increase competition in the airline 
industry by providing the traveling public with more useful information 
and by giving consumers ownership of the commodity they have 
purchased--their seat on an airplane. Today, I am introducing 
legislation that will provide passengers with greater information about 
their air fare and flight and with greater flexibility over unused or 
partially used fares.
  The price of an airline ticket is as much a mystery as the Pyramids 
or the Hanging Gardens. In fact, The New York Times reported that on a 
single flight, passengers paid 27 different fares, ranging from $87 to 
$728. We should not adopt any measure that discourage air carriers from 
discounting fares or that chill the benefits airline consumers are now 
receiving. Air carriers, however, should not be allowed to continue 
bait-and-switch advertising. If an air carrier offers a discounted 
fare, my bill permits all passengers to make a confirmed reservation at 
that same price for a twenty-four hour period.
  Under my bill, consumers will get more ticket and flight information. 
Airlines will be required to notify passengers about flight delays, 
cancellations, or diversions. Air carriers must also disclose if the 
passenger will be traveling on a carrier other than the one from whom 
the consumer purchased the ticket or if the flight will require the 
passenger to change planes.
  At the same time, my bill will ensure that air carriers are penalized 
for canceling flights, bumping passengers, and holding travelers 
hostage on board an aircraft with inpunity. Whenever an airline 
passenger is unable to make a flight, the passenger will have the 
opportunity to board a similar flight on a standby basis. Whenever an 
airline cancels a flight for their convenience, it will have to offer 
to compensate each passenger. Whenever an airline keeps passengers on 
board an aircraft that sits on the tarmac for more than two hours, it 
will have to offer to compensate each passenger.
  The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 started a revolution in the 
airline industry, a revolution that according to a Brookings 
Institution study has benefitted consumers by $18.4 billion. That 
revolution is unfinished. I want to take the next step and promote new 
competition in the passenger aviation marketplace. My bill does this by 
taking away much of the mystery associated with flying.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:
       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Airline Deregulation and 
     Disclosure Act of 1999''.

     SEC. 2. AIRLINE PASSENGER PROTECTION.

       (a) In General.--Subchapter I of chapter 417 of title 49, 
     United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:

     ``Sec. 41716. Air carrier passenger protection

       ``(a) Delay, Cancellation, or Diversion.--
       ``(1) Explanation of delay, cancellation, or diversion 
     required.--An announcement by an air carrier of a delay or 
     cancellation of a flight, or a diversion of a flight to an 
     airport other than the airport at which the flight is 
     scheduled to land, shall include an explanation of each 
     reason for the delay, cancellation, or diversion.
       ``(2) Prohibition on false or misleading explanations.--No 
     air carrier shall provide an explanation under paragraph (1) 
     that the air carrier knows or has reason to know is false or 
     misleading.
       ``(3) Delays After Enplaning or Before Deplaning.--
       ``(A) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph (B), 
     no air carrier may require a passenger on a flight of that 
     air carrier to remain onboard an aircraft for a period longer 
     than 2 hours after--
       ``(i) the passenger enplaned, in any case in which the 
     aircraft has not taken flight from the airport during that 
     period; or
       ``(ii) the aircraft has landed at an airport, if the 
     aircraft remains in that airport without taking flight.
       ``(B) Election.--A passenger described in subparagraph (A) 
     may remain onboard an aircraft described in clause (i) or 
     (ii) of that

[[Page S2604]]

     subparagraph for a period longer than the applicable period 
     described in that subparagraph, if, not later than the end of 
     that 2-hour period--
       ``(i) the air carrier offers the passenger an opportunity 
     to deplane with a full refund of air fare; and
       ``(ii) the passenger declines that offer.''.
       ``(b) Economic Cancellations.--
       ``(1) Nonsafety cancellations.--If, on the date a flight of 
     an air carrier is scheduled, the carrier cancels the flight 
     for any reason other than safety, the carrier shall provide 
     to each passenger that purchased air transportation on the 
     flight a refund of the amount paid for the air 
     transportation.
       ``(2) Cancellations for safety.--A cancellation for safety 
     is a cancellation made by reason of--
       ``(A) an insufficient number of crew members;
       ``(B) weather;
       ``(C) a mechanical problem; or
       ``(D) any other matter that prevents--
       ``(i) the safe operation of the flight; or
       ``(ii) the flight from operating in accordance with 
     applicable regulations of the Federal Aviation 
     Administration.
       ``(c) Code Sharing.--An air carrier, foreign air carrier, 
     or ticket agent may sell air transportation in the United 
     States for a flight that bears a designator code of a carrier 
     other than the carrier that will provide the air 
     transportation, only if the carrier or ticket agent selling 
     the air transportation first informs the person purchasing 
     the air transportation that the carrier providing the air 
     transportation will be a carrier other than the carrier whose 
     designator code is used to identify the flight.
       ``(d) Multiple Flights.--An air carrier, foreign air 
     carrier, or ticket agent that sells air transportation in the 
     United States that requires taking flights on more than 1 
     aircraft shall be required to provide notification on a 
     ticket, receipt, or itinerary provided to the purchaser of 
     that air transportation that the passenger shall be required 
     to change aircraft.
       ``(e) Air Carrier Pricing Policies.--An air carrier may 
     not--
       ``(1) prohibit a person (including a governmental entity) 
     that purchases air transportation from only using a portion 
     of the air transportation purchased (including using the air 
     transportation purchased only for 1-way travel instead of 
     round-trip travel); or
       ``(2) assess an additional fee or charge for using only a 
     portion of that purchased air transportation to be paid by--
       ``(A) that person; or
       ``(B) any ticket agent that sold the air transportation to 
     that person.
       ``(f) Equitable Fares; Frequent Flyer Program Awards.--
       ``(1) Reduced fares.--Subject to paragraph (2), if an air 
     carrier makes seats available on a specific date at a reduced 
     fare, that air carrier shall be required to make available 
     air transportation at that reduced fare for any passenger 
     that requests a seat at that reduced fare during a 24-hour 
     period beginning with the initial offering of that reduced 
     fare.
       ``(2) Limitation.--
       ``(A) In general.--An air carrier shall not be required 
     under paragraph (1) to make a seat available for a route at a 
     reduced fare, if providing that seat at that fare would 
     result in the air carrier being unable to provide, for the 
     24-hour period specified in that paragraph, the applicable 
     historic average number of seats offered at an unreduced fare 
     for the route, as determined under subparagraph (B).
       ``(B) Historic average.--With respect to a route, the 
     historic average number of seats offered at an unreduced fare 
     for the route is the average number of seats offered at an 
     unreduced fare per day by an air carrier for flights 
     scheduled on that route during the 24-month period preceding 
     the 24-hour period specified in paragraph (1).
       ``(3) Standby use of tickets.--An air carrier shall permit 
     an individual to use a ticket (or equivalent electronic 
     record) issued by that air carrier on a standby basis for any 
     flight that has the same origin and destination as are 
     indicated on that ticket (or equivalent electronic record).
       ``(4) Frequent flyer program awards.--
       ``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (C), in a manner 
     consistent with applicable requirements of a frequent flyer 
     program, if an air carrier makes any seat available on a 
     specific date for use by a person redeeming an award under 
     that frequent flyer program on any route in air 
     transportation provided by the air carrier, that air carrier 
     shall, to the extent practicable during the 24-hour period 
     beginning with the redemption of that award--
       ``(i) redeem any other award under that frequent flyer 
     program for air transportation on that route; and
       ``(ii) make a seat available for the person who redeems 
     that other award on a flight on that route.
       ``(B) Standby use of frequent flyer program awards.--An air 
     carrier shall permit an individual to redeem a ticket (or 
     equivalent electronic record) acquired through a frequent 
     flyer award on a standby basis for any flight that has the 
     same origin and destination as are indicated on that ticket 
     (or equivalent electronic record).
       ``(C) Limitation.--
       ``(i) In general.--An air carrier shall not be required 
     under subparagraph (A) to make a seat available for a route 
     for use by a person redeeming a frequent flyer award, if 
     providing that seat to that person would result in the air 
     carrier being unable to provide, for the 24-hour period 
     specified in that paragraph, the applicable historic average 
     number of seats offered at an unreduced fare for the route, 
     as determined under clause (ii).
       ``(ii) Historic average.--With respect to a route, the 
     historic average number of seats offered at an unreduced fare 
     for the route is the average number of seats offered at an 
     unreduced fare per day by an air carrier for flights 
     scheduled on that route during the 24-month period preceding 
     the 24-hour period specified in subparagraph (A).
       ``(g) Access to All Fares.--Each air carrier operating in 
     the United States shall make information concerning all fares 
     for air transportation charged by that air carrier available 
     to the public, through--
       ``(1) computer-based technology; and
       ``(2) means other than computer-based technology.''.
       (b) Penalties.--Section 46301(a)(1)(A) of title 49, United 
     States Code, is amended by striking ``or 41715 of this 
     title'' and inserting ``, 41715, or 41716 of this title''.
       (c) Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for 
     chapter 417 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by 
     inserting after the item relating to section 41715 the 
     following:

``41716. Air carrier passenger protection.''.



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