Airline passenger 'Bill of Rights' proposed for Washington

Airline passenger 'Bill of Rights' proposed for Washington

A long line of travelers wait with their baggage to check in at the ticket counter of Frontier Airlines in Denver International Airport on Saturday.

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Story Published: Jan 22, 2008 at 6:48 PM PDT

Story Updated: Jan 22, 2008 at 10:58 PM PDT

By Akiko Fujita

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OLYMPIA -- Airline passengers frustrated by travel delays and long waits on the tarmac may be getting help from state senators.

Sen. Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle is proposing legislation that would guarantee passengers “basic services” if stuck on a tarmac for more than three hours.

“To me as a human being it seems absurd to have to ask for those things,” said Kate Hanni, the founder of the Coalition of an Airline Passenger’s Bill of Rights.

The Senate Bill is patterned after a similar law in New York state. The proposed law requires airlines provide passengers with fresh air, food, water, and adequate medical care on a boarded plane that is delayed for more than three hours.

Airlines must refund 150 percent of the ticket price for passengers on flights that are delayed for more than 12 hours. The bill also requires carriers to publish monthly, flights that have been delayed for more than 30 minutes.

“We have less rights as an airline passenger than a prisoner of war,” said Hanni.

Hanni is pushing for this bill because of “the flight from hell” she experienced two years ago. On her San Francisco to Dallas flight, her American Airlines plane was diverted to Austin, Texas. The flight was cancelled because of severe weather, but Hanni and fellow passengers were forced to wait on the tarmac for nine hours with a bag of pretzels and water from the bathroom.

Steve Jarvis, Vice President of Marketing for Alaska Airlines opposes Hanni’s proposal. He said airlines already have similar rights in place for passengers. New state rules would complicate a national issue.

“If passenger protection is required at a higher level then we believe it should be at a federal level to avoid competing and confusing differing sets of regulations from state to state,” he said.

The federal Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 prevents states from enforcing a law or provision that affects the price or route of an airline carrier. But a New York court recently upheld a law protecting passengers so long as it dealt with their health and safety concerns.

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