Rescuers failed to free a luxury cruise that got stuck in Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, with a smaller boat on Wednesday.
25.08.2023 - 13:02 / skift.com / Airlines
The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to pass its version of a crucial bill to reauthorize funding for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for five more years. Next, the Senate needs to finalize its own version, and the two sides need to work out differences by September 30. Miss the deadline, and Congress would need to approve an extension.
Beyond funding, the reauthorization is important because it will include several provisions about consumer protections and airline safety, some of which have proven controversial.
Here are five important things to know about this year’s FAA reauthorization process, and what happens now.
A big part of the FAA reauthorization involves improving the travel experience for consumers. This effort takes center stage after widespread cancellations, operational meltdowns and staffing shortages have tested travelers’ patience.
For now, the House bill is generally less specific when it lays out how airlines would have to handle consumer complaints than the Senate bill in progress.
Both the White House and Senate Democrats have both been pushing back on so-called surprise “junk fees” that drive up the ultimate costs of airline tickets. Ahead of the House vote, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said it opposed provisions in that bill that “would reverse important gains made by this administration to combat junk fees in the airline industry and would eliminate long standing consumer protections.” The office urged the House to keep current rules about fare disclosures.
Both bills would prohibit airlines from charging fees to sit families with children together, but have different language about several other protections.
Some new consumer protection provisions in the House version of the bill include:
Meanwhile, the Senate is pushing for airlines to:
To enforce these new protections, the Senate bill would double the civil penalty for consumer violations to $50,000. The Senate also wants to confirm an assistant secretary for the aviation consumer protection office.
While the House bill would include several measures aimed at improving airport safety and modernizing the national airspace system, one point in particular has delayed the bill in the past few months.
A contentious proposal to change criteria for pilot training postponed a Senate committee markup scheduled in June, and still looks to be one of the key issues affecting how fast the chamber can work toward a final bill.
The House had been considering a change to the way pilots would be able to complete the 1,500 hours of flight time they need to fly for a commercial airline. However, the change was not included in the final version of the bill.
Currently, pilots can log
Rescuers failed to free a luxury cruise that got stuck in Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, with a smaller boat on Wednesday.
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