Bans family seating fees, mandates automatic refunds for cancelled flights, invests in airport climate resiliency

Washington (May 9, 2024) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and longtime champion for consumer and worker protections, released the following statement today after the Senate passed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act.

“The FAA Reauthorization Act is now fully booked with major wins for travelers and workers,” said Senator Markey. “Families will be able to fly with confidence knowing they won’t have their pockets emptied just for wanting to sit together or be handed a soon-to-expire voucher when their flight is cancelled. I also fought hard to ensure the legislation streamlined the refund process to ensure travelers don’t have to jump through unnecessary hoops to get the refunds they deserve.

“But it’s impossible for consumers to depend on smooth travel without a well-paid, fairly treated aviation workforce. That is why I was proud to fight alongside SEIU and a broad coalition of unions in an effort to include my Good Jobs for Good Airports Act in the legislation. While industry-led opposition blocked its inclusion, we successfully created a new working group for the Department of Transportation and organized labor to explore ways to improve conditions for airport service workers. This provision clears the runway for our continued fight to raise wages and benefits and do right by these workers.

“There is no aviation system if our airports are under water. From rising sea levels to melting runways, our aviation system is under threat from climate change. I fought to include language in this bill that will invest more than $1 billion in airport climate resilience.

“I thank Chair Cantwell, Leader Schumer, Ranking Member Larson, and Leader Jeffries for negotiating this package for consumers.”

Senator Markey’s provisions in the FAA Reauthorization Act include: 

  • Bans family seating fees, based on his Families Fly Together Act
  • Requires flight vouchers, offered in lieu of a refund, to be valid for at least five years, based on his years of oversight of airlines use of flight vouchers and credits
  • Requires airlines to provide refunds automatically for cancelled or significantly delayed flights, which follows his years of advocacy around protecting the rights of consumers to receive refunds from cancelled flights
  • Invests $1 billion in airport climate resiliency, based on his Airport Infrastructure Resilience Act
  • Recognizes the importance of airport service workers through a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) study and working group on the workers, in line with his Good Jobs for Good Airports Act
  • Creates a GAO study on airline resilience, based on his Airline Operational Resiliency Act, based on his oversight of Southwest Airlines after its mass flight cancellations in December 2022
  • Triples the civil penalty for aviation consumer protection violations to $75,000
  • Creates transparency disclosures for airline passenger rights, which mirror provisions in his and Senator Richard Blumenthal’s (D-Conn.) Airline Passenger Bill of Rights

Senator Markey has led several pieces of legislation with Senator Blumenthal to protect aviation consumers, including their comprehensive Airline Passenger Bill of Rights Act and the Cash Refunds for Flight Cancellations Act, which significantly expand consumer protection laws for passengers.

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