{"id":998,"date":"2018-11-28T13:50:03","date_gmt":"2018-11-28T13:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/dot_advisory_committee\/"},"modified":"2020-12-14T21:46:02","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T21:46:02","slug":"dot_advisory_committee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/dot_advisory_committee\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer groups: DOT\u2019s aviation consumer protection advisory committee tilted in favor of industry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- content_before_flip_start --><\/p>\n<p>November 28, 2018<\/p>\n<p><!-- content_before_flip_end --><\/p>\n<p><span>Media contact: National Consumers League \u2013 Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org, (412) 945-3242\u00a0or Taun Sterling, tauns@nclnet.org, (202)\u00a0207-2832<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Washington, DC\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/pdf\/Chao_Consumer_Letter_-_11-28-2018_FINAL_v2.pdf\">America\u2019s leading consumer and passenger rights organizations today expressed deep concern<\/a> at the lack of appropriate balance in the new membership of the Department of Transportation\u2019s (DOT) aviation consumer protection advisory group. Specifically, the groups called on Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to reconsider the appointments of Frances Smith of the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Maryland Transportation Secretary Pete K. Rahn to the DOT\u2019s Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee (ACPAC). The groups pointed out that the current makeup of the four-person advisory committee may violate both the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) and the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012.<\/p>\n<p>The groups\u2019 letter cited the failure of the ACPAC\u2019s membership to meet FACA\u2019s requirement that federal advisory committees be \u201cfairly balanced\u201d in the views represented. Smith spent the past 12 years with CEI, a pro-business think tank, and has never worked on aviation consumer protection issues. Secretary Rahn\u2019s agency is statutorily preempted from working on consumer protection issues related to airline travel. The ACPAC\u2019s other two representatives are the general counsel of the airlines&#8217; largest trade association and executive director of the Indianapolis Airports Authority. In light of this industry-friendly slant in the makeup, the groups indicated that it is unlikely that the views of the flying public will be adequately considered by the committee.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCongress created the ACPAC as an important venue for the flying public to hold the DOT and the airline industry accountable for everything from rising ancillary fees to shrinking seat sizes,\u201d said John Breyault, vice president, public policy, telecommunications and fraud at the National Consumers League, which organized the letter. \u201cUnfortunately, Secretary Chao has chosen to pack the ACPAC with members whose first interests are likely to be the airlines\u2019 bottom lines, not consumers\u2019 pocketbooks. Such a makeup is unlikely to be \u2018fairly balanced,\u2019 as required by the law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 requires that DOT appoint a \u201cconsumer representative\u201d and a \u201cstate or local government representative\u201d with expertise in aviation consumer protection to the ACPAC. Historically the committee\u2019s members included an experienced and committed advocate for aviation consumers and a state attorney general to represent the interests of the flying public. This enabled the ACPAC to make balanced recommendations on important consumer protection issues like accessibility for customers with disabilities, improving consumer complaint handling, and the need to educate flyers about their rights regarding delays and lost baggage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo our knowledge, none of Ms. Smith\u2019s extensive career experience has involved consumer protection matters pertaining to aviation,\u201d wrote the groups. Similarly, the Maryland Department of Transportation aviation responsibilities are directed to management of Baltimore\/Washington International Thurgood Marshall and Martin State airports, not consumer protection. As such, Secretary Rahn\u2019s perspective is likely to be \u201cessentially duplicative\u201d of Mario Rodriguez\u2019s, the Executive Director of the Indianapolis Airport Authority, noted the letter.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the National Consumers League, the letter was signed by the Business Travel Coalition, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Reports, EdOnTravel.com, Public Citizen, Travelers United, and U.S. PIRG.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/pdf\/Chao_Consumer_Letter_-_11-28-2018_FINAL_v2.pdf\">To read the letter, click here (pdf).<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>###<\/p>\n<p><strong>About the National Consumers League<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>November 28, 2018 Media contact: National Consumers League \u2013 Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org, (412) 945-3242\u00a0or Taun Sterling, tauns@nclnet.org, (202)\u00a0207-2832 Washington, DC\u2014America\u2019s leading consumer and passenger rights organizations today expressed deep concern [&hellip;]<\/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\/998"}],"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=998"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15662,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions\/15662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nclnet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}