Bill of Rights for Airline Passengers - Where do Candidates Stand?

The Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights has issued a challenge to each of the presidential candidates to make public their positions on the rights of airline passengers to not be subjected to more than three hours on airport tarmacs and to be provided a minimum amount of food, water, medical attention and other basic human essential needs during lengthy tarmac delays.

Policy request letters were faxed, e-mailed, and hand-delivered to each of the candidate's campaigns. The only candidate with a known track record on this subject is Senator John McCain, who led a campaign for passengers' rights in 1999, but then he dropped the issue in favor of the airline's self-imposed service improvements.

The Coalition said history has shown that the trust placed in the industry was misplaced. The other candidates do not appear to have a track record or public position on these issues. In related news, the U.S. Senate is reportedly considering an extension to the FAA Modernization Act that will effectively kill passengers' rights legislation this year, despite the fact that tarmac strandings continue to occur.

The group says their members are outraged. Every day that passengers' rights languish on the tarmac, is another day someone may suffer from diabetic shock or develop a blood clot.

The extension also affects desperately needed upgrades to the air traffic control system. Passenger enplanements are expected to increase to over one billion in the next ten years, further taxing an already over-stressed system.


For more information, visit www.flyersrights.org