The House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved a five-year FAA reauthorization bill.
The bill, which passed Thursday by a margin of 351-69, includes travel advisor-related measures that were high priorities of ASTA.
The bill would also increase funding for aviation infrastructure improvements, address the shortage of U.S. air traffic controllers, provide new consumer protections to air travelers and raise the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots.
The bill will now be referred to the Senate, where progress on FAA reauthorization has been stalled in the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. The deadline for passage of a reconciled bill is Sept. 30.
Among ASTA's priorities, the House bill would add a travel advisor seat to the DOT Consumer Protection Advisory Committee and create a Passenger Experience Advisory Committee with a seat for travel advisors.
Also, the bill would make it clear that a travel agency's obligation to issue a refund to a client is limited to "when such ticket agent possesses, or has access to, the funds of a passenger."
And the legislation would require the DOT to create a streamlined system for fulfilling consumer disclosure requirements in offline transactions, either over the phone or face to face, within 18 months of its enactment. ASTA says that provision would help advisors manage the disclosures they are required to make to consumers when selling airline tickets.
"Today, the House of Representatives recognized what consumers have long known -- travel advisors serve as a crucial voice for the traveling public and, as sellers of nearly half of all air tickets, an indispensable contributor to our nation's economy," ASTA CEO Zane Kerby said.
More money for airports and controllers
The U.S. Travel Association also released a statement praising the bill. The legislation includes $4 billion annually for the Airport Improvement Program, an increase from the program's current annual authorization of $3.35 billion. The bill also calls for the FAA administrator to develop new hiring and recruitment plans for air traffic controllers.
"The United States requires a more modern, efficient and secure air travel system to meet increasing demand and grow the U.S. economy," U.S. Travel CEO Geoff Freeman said. "The bipartisan House bill is a critical step in correcting years of federal underinvestment, which has left the system with 1,200 fewer air traffic controllers than a decade ago."
Among the consumer protections in the bill is one directing the DOT to develop rules that would require airlines to seat children under age 14 with their accompanying adult at no extra cost. Various measures would seek to protect passengers with disabilities, including requiring improved training standards for assisting passengers who use wheelchairs and directing airlines to publish stowage size dimensions for wheelchairs on their websites to reduce incidences of damaged wheelchairs.
Full-fare ad rule on the chopping block
A separate measure has drawn ire from consumer advocates. It would put an end to the full-fare advertising rule, which requires airlines and ticket agents to display the entire cost of a base ticket, including taxes and fees, on search results.
The FAA bill would raise the mandatory commercial pilot retirement age from 65 to 67. The measure is intended to alleviate an industry pilot shortage.
A separate pilot training proposal, which would have allowed aspiring airline pilots to use a simulator to obtain up to 250 hours of the 1,500 flight hours they must accrue, was removed from the bill on the House floor after being defeated in the amendment process. Aspiring pilots are currently allowed to apply up 100 simulator hours toward the 1,500-hour requirement.
Also ahead of Thursday's vote, an amendment failed that would have increased the number of operations from Washington Reagan National Airport that could travel beyond the 1,250-mile flight perimeter. Delta has backed the amendment but it has been opposed by the dominant carrier in the Washington area, United and American.