Fair Treatment of Airline Passengers Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (text of measure as introduced: continuing resolutionA stopgap law funding the government at existing levels when the annual appropriations bills are not done by October 1.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) S1993-1994)
Fair Treatment of Airline Passengers Act - Requires an air carrier to: (1) disclose (without being requested), at the time a person contacts such air carrier to make a reservation or to purchase a ticket on a consistently-delayed or canceled flight reservation, the on-time performance and cancellation rate for such flight for the most recent month for which data is available; (2) post on its Internet website the on-time performance record of its flights for the most recent month for which data is available; (3) provide to its customers at the airport and on board its aircraft (including by telephone number or website if it has one), in a timely, reasonable, and truthful manner, the best available information regarding the delay, cancellation, or diversion of its aircraft; (4) establish, if it is a reporting carrier, a reasonable system for notifying air passengers before their arrival at the airport when such carrier knows sufficiently in advance of check-in time that their flight will be canceled or delayed by an hour or more; (5) increase the comprehensiveness and accessibility to the public of its reporting of frequent flyer award redemption information; (6) inform ticketed air passengers, upon request, whether their flight is oversold; (7) inform air passengers what such carrier will pay passengers involuntarily denied boarding (bumping) before making them offers to voluntarily relinquish their seats (including informing the public about their bumping policy); (8) revise its reporting for mishandled air passenger baggage (establishing performance goals to minimize incidents of mishandled baggage); (9) develop and adopt a customer service plan designed to implement the provisions of the Airline Customer Service Commitment executed by the Air Transport Association on June 17, 1999; (10) establish a quality assurance and performance measurement system for customer service; and (11) amend its customer service plan to state that it will offer to its customers the lowest fare available. Requires the Secretary of Transportation to take specified related actions with respect to uniform check-in time, mishandled baggage statistics, airline bumping compensation, and regulations as they relate to air carrier's treatment of customers.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on March 7, 2001. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on March 7, 2001: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (text of measure as introduced: CR S1993-1994)
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 107th Congress (2001-02), 377 of the 9,126 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 4.1 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced it on March 7, 2001. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on March 7, 2001, 9366 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 9366 days ago, on March 7, 2001.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 107th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2003 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIntroduced, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers