Hahn Amendment Added To FAA Reauthorization Act During Committee Markup Last Week

An amendment authored by Congresswoman Janice Hahn (D-CA) that was approved during the House Transportation Committee markup of the AIRR act last week would force airlines to stop the practice of hiding the mandatory DOT Customer Protection Hotline on obscure pages of their websites.

According to a news release, Hahn (pictured) says that airlines have been required since 2012 to display the Department of Transportation Customer Protection Hotline information on their websites so that consumers may easily file complaints. However, this hotline is often not easy to find and may be responsible for the relatively low number of complaints filed with the DOT.

“It is very difficult to find this number,” said Congresswoman Hahn. “I searched for the hotline number myself on different airline websites and couldn’t find it anywhere. I also had my 22 year-old staffer look she also couldn’t track it down easily. If I can’t find it, I am assuming many other flyers can’t find it either, and the data demonstrates that.”

Congresswoman Hahn offered an amendment during the markup of the FAA reauthorization that would require airlines to post the DOT consumer protection hotline information in a prominent place on their websites which passed with unanimous consent of committee members.

“Consumers should know that we have their backs,” continued Congresswoman Hahn. “We already have a system in place, let’s just enforce it.”

(Image from file)

FMI: http://hahn.house.gov