The American
Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) today reacted to the Senate’s approval of
the hotly debated FAA
Reauthorization bill (H.R. 3935), which re-certifies approval for the the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety
Board (NTSB) for five years.
In an official
reaction statement, ASTA as an organization expressed its dissatisfaction and
frustration with the amended version of the bill, which was ultimately approved
by the Senate late on the evening of May 9. The reason? Because the legislation
fails to address unfair terms of a recent Department of Transportation
(DOT) final
rule that guarantee automatic refunds to airline customers when their
flight is significantly changed or canceled, but leaves travel agencies holding
the bag as the merchant of record, rather than the airlines.
“Time and time
again, we’ve heard politicians in Washington give lip service to small
businesses. Travel agencies are not positioned to float the kind of financial
obligations that policymakers are strapping on their backs,” said Zane Kerby,
President and CEO of ASTA. “Consumer protection could have been accomplished
without sacrificing the interests of small business travel advisors who work
diligently every day on behalf of the traveling public,” Kerby continued.
ASTA pointed out
that, in the details of both the regulation and legislation, the term “ticket
agents” was applied as a very non-specific catchall term, but that there is a
stark difference in the financial resources of major online travel agencies (OTAs)
compared to small and family-owned agencies.
“Those household
name OTAs are resourced with billions more dollars than our retail agencies, 98
percent of which are small businesses. Airlines have been bailed out by
Congress over and over, and they are now looking to travel agencies to serve as
their bank, paying their customers with no onus to repay the agencies.
Requiring advisors to extend credit from their own pockets to pay airline
refunds is a gross misplacement of responsibility that must be rectified,”
Kerby said. “Congress failed in its duty to protect Main Street from monolithic
airline corporations. In the end, the consumer suffers, as travel advisors will
be less inclined to book airfare, leaving the flyer without an advocate when
travel plans go south.”
ASTA plans to
address this issue directly with lawmakers during its annual Legislative Day in
September, making it a top priority on the agenda during those meetings with
Congress. The organization will demand clarity on how lawmakers intend to
rectify this gross oversight and provide relief to travel advisors grappling
with the refund dilemma.
Despite efforts by
Senator Rand Paul to introduce an amendment restoring the original language of
the bill, which would have shifted the refund obligation to the party holding
the funds, Senate leadership did not allow an opportunity for amendments to be
considered.
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