December 28th, 2007 Austin Press Conference Canceled - No Room At The Inn For Stranded Passengers

We're shocked, positively shocked, I tell you... Kicked out of an aviation venue for speaking your mind and trying to right some wrongs? Outside of the Sun 'n Fun Fly-In (and Gulag), who would think that such a thing was possible in the good ol' USA? Well... according to CAPBOR's Kate Hanni, the spirit of censorship is alive and well in... Austin, TX.

CAPBOR tells ANN that "the one year reunion and press conference planned to commemorate the incident that spurred the popular airline passengers' rights movement in the U.S. has been canceled. The City of Austin, its airport and the Airport Hilton declined to welcome The Coalition for an Airline Passengers Bill of Rights (CAPBOR)."
 
CAPBOR was formed after several thousand other airline passengers were held on the tarmac at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and other regional airports for several hours on December 29, 2006. Since then, the coalition has grown to over 22,000 members. As a result of coalition efforts this year, passenger rights legislation is now pending in Congress, and the U.S. Department of Transportation is engaged in similar rulemaking activities.

December 29, 2007 will mark the one year anniversary of the stranding in Austin. Coalition members had planned to return to the city to thank its citizens for their kindness and hospitality last year. Unfortunately, the City of Austin Aviation Department declined to allow the organization to hold a press conference anywhere on airport property. The Airport Hilton Hotel also refused to allow the coalition to hold a press conference there.

CAPBOR will reschedule the press conference for a future date.

Hey Kate... good luck in finding a proper venue -- but we'd pass up Lakeland, FL, if we were you...

FMI: www.flyersrights.com, www.strandedpassengers.blogspot.com