Senators decry state of air travel after passenger incidents

WASHINGTON — Air travel in the United States has become a combustible mix in which passengers aren’t the only ones treated unfairly, senators were told Thursday. Travelers all too frequently take out their frustrations on airline employees, including flight attendants and gate agents, speakers said at a Senate hearing.

Senators from both parties said airlines must improve the way they treat their passengers, but they also said airline employees must be treated with respect. Lawmakers also revived talk of a congressionally imposed “Passenger Bill of Rights.”

The Senate hearing comes after a passenger was dragged off a United Express flight last month and a separate incident on American Airlines in which a mother with a stroller was bullied by a flight attendant. Videos of both incidents were widely circulated on social media.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said air travelers frequently tell him they “feel like they’re being treated as self-loading cargo rather than as valued consumers.”

Passengers are so fed up that they are becoming amateur detectives, Nelson said, using their cellphones to record incidents such as the removal of United passenger David Dao and the heated confrontation on the American flight.

Widely shared video of a bloodied Dao being dragged from the United flight, which he had refused to leave, sparked worldwide outrage and led to calls for a congressional crackdown on U.S. airlines.

“I take no pleasure in beating up the airlines, but in this case, it’s warranted,” said Nelson, the top Democrat on the Transportation Committee. “The fact is we wouldn’t be sitting here today if the traveling public believed the airlines cared more about them than their own bottom lines.”

Even as lawmakers spoke, another video surfaced showing a California family who say they were forced off a Delta plane and threatened with jail if they didn’t give up one of their children’s seats on an oversold flight.

Brian and Brittany Schear of Huntington Beach, California, told KABC-TV in Los Angeles they were returning from Hawaii with their two toddlers when they were removed from the plane.

The Schears said they wanted to put one of the children in a seat they had bought for their 18-year-old son, who instead flew home on an earlier flight.

Delta says on its website that tickets cannot be transferred and name changes are not allowed, but federal regulations do not bar changing the name on a ticket as long as the new passenger’s name can be run through a database before the flight.

By late Thursday afternoon, Delta still had not explained why the Schears were removed. A spokesman said the flight was not overbooked. Nevertheless, Delta said it was offering refunds and compensation to the family.

The Hawaii incident was not discussed at the Senate hearing, but Nelson and other lawmakers complained about an “explosion of fees” for services such as checked baggage, priority boarding and assigned seating, even as flights are frequently delayed and passengers with disabilities or other special needs are not treated with proper care.

“Adding insult to injury,” American Airlines announced this week it is slashing legroom in its new Boeing 737 jets to squeeze 10 more passengers on its planes, Nelson said.