Kate Hanni and Flyer's Rights

Airline horror stories are so common, they barely even register. Been stuck in an airport for hours on end? Who hasn’t? Luggage got lost? Been there, lived through it. We all have our share of tales, met by groans and sighs of recognition.

But one activist argues that passengers have played the role of the victim for too long. In 2006 Kate Hanni was stranded on the tarmac for over nine hours after her flight to Dallas, Texas was diverted due to bad weather. She was unable to deboard and refused access to food, water, and even the bathroom. Infuriated, Kate formed the Coalition for an Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights, breathing life back into the quest for flyer’s rights legislation initially begun in 1999.

Kate’s aggressiveness has made her an unexpected adversary. Still, she faces a powerful industry that traditionally enjoys broad deregulation and multi-billion dollar government bailouts. Airlines and special interest groups spent a record breaking $30 million in 2008 towards lobbying. A significant cut of this money was meant to defeat a passengers’ bill of rights. But Kate is not fazed by the airline bullies. Last Thursday the bill went before the House of Representatives.

Kate Hanni joins us from Washington, DC to fill us in on where the bill stands and exactly what rights she believes passengers deserve.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Passenger rights part of air bill"

(Photo courtesy redjar via Flickr/Creative Commons)