Veep Drinking Game

Passenger's Bill of Rights

Having been a disgruntled passenger on an airplane, when I saw that there is a bill in congress to force airlines to provide basic services to passengers on delayed flights, I felt it was my duty as a blogger for change to post it here…

Dear FlyersRights.org supporter:

The question of whether or not Congress will legislate airline passenger's rights this year is coming down to the wire. If we're going to get across the finish line you have to call or email your senator as soon as possible.

The Senate Commerce Committee is now working on the “FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009”. Just as it did in the previous Congress, that Act must contain our Airline Passenger's Bill of Rights provisions - and you made it happen last time! Although last year's bill didn't pass, it was only because of unrelated funding disagreements between the Democrats and the Republicans in the U.S. Senate. The U.S. House of Representatives 2009 version of this legislation (H.R. 915) is already moving, so our focus now shifts to the Senate bill, which will be shaped in the next 10 days.

For more information, please read the enclosed letter that FlyersRights.org sent to the leadership on the Senate Commerce Committee:

http://www.flyersrights.com/letters/FROLettertoSCC04-21-20091652.pdf

Please contact your U.S. Senators now!

If one of your senators is on the Senate Commerce Committee, it is critical that you email or phone his/her transportation staffer. Here is a the contact list:

http://www.flyersrights.com/letters/SENATECOMMERCECOMMITTEE.pdf

Urge them to co-sponsor S. 213, the Sen. Boxer/Snowe “Passenger Rights Act of 2009” and to support including its content into the draft “FAA Reauthorization Act”. And please be sure to ask them to respond to you by return email or phone as to whether the senator agrees with you.

Please email or call me and let me know the outcome. We need to know who was contacted and what the results were so we know where to focus our attention. And please let me know if you or someone you know is a personal friend, contact, or campaign donor for your senator.

If your senator is not on the Senate Commerce Committee, please contact them anyway and make the same requests outlined above. This year, we have to work even harder to get our language incorporated into the bill -- because lobbyists for the major airlines are working even harder to keep our language OUT of that bill.

Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE who cares about these issues needs to act now. Just last week, a family with three young children, one child only two years old, told us their airplane at sat on a tarmac in Columbia, SC for six hours after a four-hour flight. No food or water, restrooms overflowing. They didn't get anything to eat for over ten hours. Imagine not being able to feed your two-year-old for that long. The week before, a blind man was literally dragged off a plane and thrown in jail just for asking if the passengers could wait in the terminal instead of sitting out on the tarmac.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! So please, contact your senator on the Senate Commerce Committee.

If not you, then who? If not now, then when? This is our moment. Please act now.

Yours,

Kate Hanni
FlyersRights.org
159 Silverado Springs Dr.
Napa, CA 94558
707-337-0328

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