FlyersRights.org was formed to support in 2006, when a Napa, California Realtor, Kate Hanni, was stranded with her husband and two children for 9 hours on the tarmac in Austin, Texas. The victim of a sexual assault just months before, Kate vowed never to be a victim again – and she fought back, vowing to organize other passengers to pass the long-stalled Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights.
The bill, which had been stalled in Congress since at least 1999, allows passengers the option of getting off delayed planes after 3 hours on the ground, and requires airlines to provide adequate food, water, temperature controls, ventilation and working toilets to accommodate a 3-hour delay. .
Today, with more than 40,000 members, FlyersRights.org is the largest non-profit consumer organization in the United States representing airline passengers. We have given more than 1000 interviews to the media, and hardly a day goes by that FlyersRights.org isn’t quoted by a major media outlet.
We’re have achieved our initial legislative goals with the enactment in 2012 with bipartisan Boxer-Snowe Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights, The FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act,. But much more needs to be done to restore the rights of passengers who are being squeezed physically and financially as never before.
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