Turner seeks 'Hands off" Act
If it passes, legislation will stop bumping of airline passengers.
Airlines would be prohibited from bumping ticketed passengers to make room for a member of the airline’s flight crew under a bill introduced this week by U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton.
Dubbed the “Hands Off Passengers Act” the bill seeks to prevent an occurrence of what happened on April 9 when a United Airlines passenger, Dr. David Dao, 69, was left bloody after being
forcibly removed from a flight in Chicago.
United Airlines spokeswoman Maggie Schmerin reacted to news of Turner’s bill by saying company officials “share many of the concerns raised” by the incident in Chicago.
“We anno u nced policy changes to ensure this never
h app ens agai n , such as not requiring customers seated on the plane to give up their seat
involuntarily unless safety or security is at risk, and ensuring crews are booked onto flights at least 60 minutes prior to departure,” Schmerin said.
“We continue to work harder than ever to put our customers at the center of everything we do.”
In a speech on the House floor Turner said that incident “more than just created disruption for (Dao) and other passengers; it sparked a national outrage,” according to a news release issued by his office Friday.
“An airline’s lack of preparation for its own staff travel should not result in the disruption of the lives of its paying customers,” Turner said.
The day of the incident United Airlines had asked passengers on the plane to leave voluntarily to make room for crew members who needed to get to Louisville. When they could not get enough volunteers Dao was asked to leave.
When he refused three Department of Aviation Security officers confronted him and he was forcibly dragged down the aisle, a scene caught on cell phone video. Dao was hospitalized and his attorney said he suffered a concussion, a broken nose and lost teeth.
The company subsequently apologized and reached a settlement with Dao.
Turner’s bill would require the Secretary of Transporta- tion to modify regulations to prohibit airlines from forcing people who are already seated to leave the plane or denying boarding to any passenger on an oversold flight to accommodate the air carrier’s staff members.
Overbooking is common among airlines, which gamble that a certain percentage of people who purchased
tickets will not show up. On Thursday Delta Air Lines announced it was offering refunds to a California family who said they were forced to give up their seats on an overcrowded plane and threatened with jail in an incident also caught on video and posted online.