Passenger’s ordeal inspires new bill
Removal by airlines without serious cause breaches trust, Illinois draft legislation says
It would be illegal for Illinois state or local government employees to forcibly remove travellers from flights under a bill introduced by a state lawmaker on Monday after a United Airlines passenger was dragged from an aircraft last week.
The Airline Passenger Protection Act, sponsored by Republican state Representative Peter Breen, comes after Dr David Dao, 69, was pulled from a United flight at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to help make space for four crew members.
The treatment of Dao sparked international outrage, as well as multiple apologies from the carrier, and raised questions about the overbooking policies of airlines.
Under Breen’s measure, passengers could not be removed from flights by state or local government authorities unless they were presenting a danger to themselves or others, a public emergency was taking place or the passenger had caused a serious disturbance, according to a copy of the bill introduced in the state capital, Springfield.
“A commercial airline that removes validly seated customers without serious cause breaches the sacred trust between passengers and their airlines,” the bill said.
The legislation would also bar the state of Illinois from making travel arrangements, doing business with or having investments in any commercial airline that maintained a policy of removing paying passengers to make room for employees travelling on nonrevenue tickets.
Couple removed
Dao, who was travelling to Louisville, Kentucky, on April 9, suffered a broken nose, a concussion and lost two teeth when he was pulled from his seat by officers from the Chicago Department of Aviation’s security force to make room for four employees on the overbooked flight.
Meanwhile, a British couple were removed from an overbooked easyJet flight and not offered compensation a day after a United Airlines passenger was dragged off a plane in the US, according to a media report on Monday.