[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 27 (Monday, March 5, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1814-S1816]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE AIRLINE CUSTOMER SERVICE IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2001
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today to voice my support for the
Airline Customer Service Improvement Act. I commend Senator McCain for
continuing to press this crucial consumer issue before the Senate in a
bipartisan manner. I also applaud the efforts of Senator Wyden. Both
have been leading advocates for air travelers. I am confident that we
can work together to pass a pro-consumer bill into law.
I am sure that each and every one of us in this body has experienced
his or her fair share of frustration with air travel as have millions
of Americans. Whether it's late flights, long lines, or lost luggage,
we've all gotten the short end of the stick at one point or another.
When it comes to air travel, we are all consumers. And this bill
assures the protection of consumer interests. The Airline Customer
Service Improvement Act would, among other things, ensure that
passengers have the information that they need to make informed choices
in their air travel plans.
I think we were all encouraged in 1999 when the airlines came out
with their own plan to improve customer service. While many of the
airlines made improvements and responded to suggestions from the
Department of Transportation's Inspector General, much more remains to
be done.
It is time air travelers' interests once again receive our attention.
According to the Department of Transportation, consumer complaints
about air travel went up by 14 percent from 1999 to 2000. This, coupled
with a 25 percent increase from 1998 to 1999, adds up to an increase of
almost 40 percent in two years. These complaints run the gamut:
unstable ticket pricing; oversold flights; lost luggage; and flight
delays, changes, and cancellations. In addition, in 2000 one in four
flights was delayed, canceled, or diverted, affecting about 163 million
passengers. Obviously, the airlines are not solely responsible as
weather and mechanical breakdowns are part of the business, and of
course we need to ensure that we maintain and improve airport
infrastructure. But this bill addresses some problems that the airlines
can fix.
Perhaps of more importance, this bill does so without forcing
airlines to compile information that they don't already keep. The bill
simply allows air travelers the right to that basic information and the
ability to make informed decisions.
I am fortunate enough to be a customer of the premier airline when it
comes to customer satisfaction and to represent most of its employees.
For years, Midwest Express Airlines has been showered with some of the
highest airline customer satisfaction ratings in the country. For those
of my colleagues who have not yet experienced a flight on Midwest
Express, I, and I am sure I speak for the senior Senator from
Wisconsin, encourage you to do so.
How does Midwest Express continue to maintain these superlative
ratings? The answer is simple, it already incorporates some of the
provisions spelled out in this bill. Midwest Express already tries to
notify its travelers if it anticipates a flight delay, flight change,
or flight cancellation. The airline already attempts to make
information on oversold flights available to
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its customers. Midwest Express already makes efforts to allow its
customers access to frequent flyer program information. People fly the
airline because the airline cares about its customers.
These are some of the reasons the airline has been awarded the
Consumer Reports Travel Letter Best Airline Award every year from 1992
to 2000; Zagat Airline Survey's #1 Domestic Airline award in 1994 and
1996; Travel & Leisure's World's Best Awards for Best Domestic Airline
in 1997, 1998, and 2000; Conde Nast Traveler's Business Travel Awards
for Best U.S. Airline in 1998 through 2000; and Conde Nast Traveler
Reader's Choice Awards from 1995 through 2000; among many awards.
Other airlines should see this bill as a challenge to meet the lofty
standards set by airlines like Midwest Express.
Air travel is on the rise, but so are air travel complaints. As we
enter the summer travel season, we should do what we can to ensure that
the flying public is treated fairly. This bill will give our
constituents access to the information they need to make wise choices
in air travel and help them to avoid frustration, inconvenience, and
sometimes costly delays. Airlines truly concerned about their customers
should already be making these efforts. I urge my colleagues to join in
this effort.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, as we acknowledge the passing of an
entire decade since the victory of coalition forces in Desert Storm, we
must simultaneously admit that this military victory has not translated
into achievement of desired objectives.
Recent events and intelligence assessments have once again focused
attention on Iraq. Saddam Hussein has rebuilt any weapons production
capabilities that were damaged or destroyed in the Desert Fox
operations in late 1998. Despite military defeat, despite thwarted
attempts by the U.N. Special Commission, and despite a decade of
sanctions, Iraq under Saddam Hussein's leadership remains a threat.
Two weeks ago strikes at command and control centers outside of the
no-fly zones reminded the American public that our pilots have been
patrolling Iraqi skies for ten years. Although we haven't yet lost any
pilots or planes in this ongoing operation, a decade of this routine
and the wear and tear on the aircraft without any end in sight has
caused many people to question the prudence of this policy and
approach.
The reason for this attack underscored again the constant risk to
British and U.S. pilots in this mission. This article entitled ``Highly
Dangerous'' highlights that risk.
New Mexicans or New Mexico-based wings have been heavily involved in
this mission. Cannon's 27th Fighter Wing and the 150th Fighter Wing,
the ``Tacos'' of the New Mexico Air National Guard fly these patrols.
As Iraqi air defenses get upgraded and Iraqi pilots continue to
violate the no-fly restrictions, we must do everything possible to
protect the U.S. personnel involved in these missions.
I am grateful that Secretary Powell took it upon himself to tour the
Middle East and began formulating new policies for the Bush
Administration on Iraq. The baton passed from the Clinton
Administration on Iraq offered no exit strategy.
I guess as long as no one got killed, the previous Administration was
comfortable wearing out our pilots and our military aircraft under the
pretense that their policy was working.
It wasn't and it's not. We need a comprehensive rethink. If our
pilots are over there, it should be more than to patrol airspace while
Saddam rebuilds his weapons production capacity and starves his people
on the ground.
I look forward to an enlightened and effective policy on Iraq. And I
think daily about the safety of the pilots who continue to perform
their duty.
I ask unanimous consent that an article from the Albuquerque Journal
be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Albuquerque Journal, Feb. 25, 2001]
Highly Dangerous--New Mexico-Based Fighter Pilots Patrol Iraq No-Fly
Zones Knowing They Could Be Shot Down at Any Time
(By John J. Lumpkin)
Cannon Air Force Base--The pilots call it ``going to the
desert.''
Life is often dull. The work is repetitive. Yet danger
always is in the air.
Most of the pilots with Cannon's 27th Fighter Wing have
gone at least once, and some repeatedly. They, and their F-16
fighters, are prime tools in the United States' decade-long,
low-intensity war against the machinations of Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein.
The three F-16 combat squadrons at Cannon are part of the
rotation for Operations Northern and Southern Watch, which
patrol the no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq. The
squadrons take their turns with other fighter units from a
U.S. and British coalition to enforce the zones, over which
Iraq has been prohibited from flying military aircraft since
the Gulf War.
They are called up for 90 to 120 days. Pilots, restricted
to an air base, say the uneventful stays are punctuated by
several long, usually uneventful patrols over Iraq.
But the routine gets exciting from time to time when Iraq
tests its limits.
``The intensity is still there,'' said Lt. Col. Bob
``Wilbur'' Wright, commander of the 523rd Fighter Squadron,
the ``Crusaders,'' who returned from a tour with Southern
Watch late last summer. ``You're always flying with the
chance of getting shot down. At any moment we could lose an
aircraft.''
U.S. and British aircraft struck an Iraqi air defense
system near Baghdad on Feb. 16 in a move the Pentagon
described as self-protection. The strikes were made to reduce
the chances of losing aircraft to surface-to-air missiles or
gunfire.
Iraq began regularly challenging the no-fly zones in
December 1998, after the four-day ``Desert Fox'' Allied
bombing campaign.
Cannon's 522nd Fighter Squadron, the ``Fireballs,'' took
part in the bombing. Cannon's third combat squadron, the
``Hounds'' of the 524th, also have taken frequent turns in
the desert.
Planes and missiles
Since Desert Fox, Iraq has fired missiles or anti-aircraft
guns at coalition planes about 700 times. Not a single one
has been shot down.
Iraqi aircraft also have violated the no-fly zones more
than 150 times. When Iraqi air-craft cross out of the no-fly
zone, coalition air-craft chase them back.
Wright and a wingman were part of one of those encounters
during his summer deployment, when an Iraqi fighter crossed
the border into the southern no-fly zone. Wright and his
wingman locked their radars on the plane, which fled.
``I think they test the water periodically,'' said Wright,
who has been to the region five times in the last decade--
three times over the north, twice over the south.
His plane, an F-16C Fighting Falcon, is a nimble, single-
seat fighter that can both dog-fight and bomb targets.
When Iraq fires at U.S. or British planes, the aircraft
usually return fire or bomb other elements of Iraq's air
defense system. Usually those targets are within the no-fly
zones.
The strikes happen almost weekly and usually rate little
news coverage. But Iraq has said the attacks have killed 300
people and injured more than 800, including civilians.
The Washington Post reported in October that the United
States scaled back the aggressiveness of its patrols after
intelligence analysts misidentified a sheep-watering tank as
a surface-to-air missile launcher on satellite photos. U.S.
aircraft bombed and strafed the site, and Iraq said 19
people, shepherds and villagers, were killed.
Wright said intelligence officials, air staff and pilots
make great efforts to avoid hitting civilians.
``What we go after and what we hit are militarily
significant targets,'' he said. ``I have a conscience, too. I
want to be sure of what we're hitting.''
Support for rebels
With United Nations' approval, the two no-fly zones were
born after the 1991 Gulf War in an attempt to limit Saddam's
use of his air power against uprisings in the northern and
southern reaches of his country. Iraq isn't allowed to fly
aircraft in those regions.
Southern Watch flies out of air bases in Kuwait and Saudi
Arabia, and planes patrol a region south of the 33rd
parallel.
It was intended to support an uprising of Shiite Muslim
rebels in the south. Saddam crushed that rebellion in the
early 1990s.
Norther Watch flies out of Incirlik, an airbase in Turkey.
Planes patrol a comparatively small part of Iraq north of the
36th parallel. The operation began in 1997.
Several F-16 fighters and a few hundred airmen of the 150th
Fighter Wing--the ``Tacos'' of the Air National Guard from
Kirtland Air Force Base--now fly patrols with Northern Watch.
Northern Watch was intended to support uprisings by the
Kurdish minority.
Recent reports indicate some Kurdish towns are thriving.
But the Kurds still face attacks from Turkey, which fears
internal Kurdish dissent and uses U.S.-made jets to bomb
Kurdish territory in Iraq.
The no-fly zones have grown less popular over the years
among other nations, even those that were part of the
coalition that opposed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. China says
the no-fly zones violate the territorial integrity of Iraq.
Russia now says they don't have U.N. backing. France, once a
partner in the coalition, stopped flying aircraft over the
zones in 1998, declaring them ``pointless and deadly.''
Wright, for one, is a believer.
``We keep the area somewhat stable,'' he said. ``We've
prevented Saddam Hussein from further injuring his own
people.''
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Better defenses
Despite their inability to hit anything, Iraqi gunners and
missile operators are getting better.
``There's some indications they have learned from their
experience,'' Wright said. ``They've seen us for 10 years
now.''
Pentagon spokesmen said that the Feb. 16 strikes were in
response to the increased ``frequency and sophistication of
their (air defense) operations.''
U.S. officials also have confirmed that China is supplying
Iraq with a fiber-optic communications system that would
integrate the operations of the country's air defenses.
Capt. Steve ``Roid'' Astor has been to the desert twice
with F-16 units. He said the greatest danger is that pilots
lose their focus on the long, uneventful patrols.
``Let's not get complacent,'' he said. ``It can be
deadly.''
To hear the pilots tell it, life on an air base in these
faraway lands is fairly dull. Threats of terrorism keep them
restricted to the bases, especially for the Southern Watch
pilots in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Cannon pilot Capt. Shannon ``Pinball'' Prasek flew nine
combat missions with Southern Watch from February to April
1998. She protected airborne radars should they be attacked
by Iraqi aircraft.
``It was pretty quiet. It was a religious holiday (for the
Iraqis),'' she said. She describes with some humor the polite
bewilderment of Kuwaiti fighter pilots at seeing a woman
combat pilot at their joint airbase.
One of Wright's ``Crusaders,'' 1st Lt. Trena Emerson is
waiting for her first rotation overseas. She is eager to fly
her first missions in a combat area, although she said she
hasn't heard much about the region from her more seasoned
colleagues, and her impressions are limited: ``Everyone comes
back in shape and tan,'' she joked.
Saddam's bounty
The Cannon pilots regard the conflict as one against
Saddam, rather than the Iraqi people or even the country's
armed forces.
When they fly over Iraq, the pilots have a price on their
head. The Iraqi president has reportedly offered a reward to
anyone who shoots down an aircraft.
Wright expects to return to the desert late this year.
``I'll miss another Christmas. . . . It does have an effect
on the family.''
But he praises the ``esprit de corps'' in his squadron,
brought on, in part, by the remoteness of Cannon Air Force
Base. ``This is almost like an overseas assignment.''
Wright is a pilot of some renown in the Air Force. He was
the first U.S. pilot since the Korean War to get three kills
in a single mission when he shot down three Bosnian Serb
Jastreb fighter-bombers violating a no-fly zone on Feb. 28,
1994, over Bosnia. This mission also marked NATO's first
military strikes in its history, and Wright earned the
Distinguished Flying Cross for his role.
Wright was also Capt. Scott O'Grady's wing-leader in June
1995 over Bosnia when O'Grady was shot down by a Bosnian Serb
surface-to-air missile. O'Grady was rescued five days later.
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