<\/p>\n
May 4, 2017<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Media contact: NCL Communications, Cindy Hoang, cindyh@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832<\/p>\n
Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation\u2019s pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, today called on the Senate to take immediate action to address the lack of competition in the industry that fuels incidents like the now infamous Dr. David Dao video being violently removed from a United flight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is time for Congress to step in and restore consumers\u2019 rights in the airline industry,\u201d said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg, who testified before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety and Security. \u201cOnly through Congressional action can American consumers be assured that the next time they fly, they won\u2019t become the unwitting star of their own viral airline video.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read Greenberg\u2019s full testimony here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The consumer group blamed unchecked consolidation for an environment characterized by anti-consumer practices, policies, and experiences. Since airlines were deregulated in the late 1970\u2019s, there have been no fewer than 40 airline mergers. Currently, more than 80 percent of domestic flights are controlled by four major airlines.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe near-complete lack of competition has enabled U.S. air carriers to worry more about profits and less about customer service and consumer rights,\u201d said Greenberg. \u201cAlthough recent headlines have shined a spotlight on the airlines\u2019 most egregious practices, frequent air travelers were already familiar with how anti-consumer the industry has become.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Unchecked consolidation has led to higher prices, fewer flights, worse service, and the rise of excessive fees for things like baggage, cancellation, seat selection, and other services that were at one time free to customers. The major airlines are raking in record profits–in 2015, the biggest airlines brought in $14.69 billion in ancillary revenue. Consumers are increasingly powerless in the airline marketplace and have been forced to suffer from a decrease in comfort and amenities, with shrinking seats, aisles, and bathrooms.<\/span><\/p>\n Before the Senate, Greenberg called for Congress to take action and implement a Passenger Bill of Rights, strengthen consumer protections, and require airlines to justify fees and reverse the trend of \u201cunbundling\u201d services.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>To read her full testimony, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n ###\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n About the National Consumers League<\/strong><\/p>\n The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" May 4, 2017 Media contact: NCL Communications, Cindy Hoang, cindyh@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832 Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation\u2019s pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, today called […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false},"categories":[25],"tags":[412],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1118"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15675,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1118\/revisions\/15675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}