We need frequent flyer mile donations for our upcoming trip to Washington, DC. And we need volunteers to come to DC and fight for your rights.  We have a golden opportunity now at a time when public sympathy is strongly in favor of passengers' rights to move our agenda forward.  Now is it the time!  Please contact kate@flyersrights.com to donate your miles or if you can go to DC April 7-9.

Contents:

New York's Airline Passengers Rights Law Falls

The New York passengers' rights law was overturned by a federal appeals court earlier this week.  The court wrote "… the goals of the Passengers Bill of Rights are laudable and the circumstances motivating its enactment deplorable."  But ultimately the court decided that only the federal government has the authority to enact such a law.  The airline lobby (Air Transport Association) celebrated the news with a press release saying "Victory for Airlines and their Customers."  Well, it was a victory for the airline lawyers, but hardly a victory for airline passengers.  In several public polls this week, 80% favored passengers' rights.

As for the coalition, we are undeterred.  This decision only makes us stronger and more determined!  One battle does not a war make.  Other states, like California, are moving forward despite the court's decision, and we're taking the fight back to Washington, D.C.!  

Federal Legislation – Take Action!

Your coalition is moving ahead on all fronts including the Senate, the Department of Transportation, and in developing a model state law that will pass constitutional challenge.  

Our passengers' rights legislation passed the House in September, but the bill is now stuck in the Senate because senators cannot agree on how to fund the FAA over the next several years.  The stalemate is essentially led by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Senator Max Baucus (D-MT).  

We're not taking sides in the funding debate, but there is ample room for them to reach a compromise.  With airline passenger volume expected to increase to one billion over the next seven years, every day that this bill is stalled is another day in the future that passengers will be stuck on tarmacs and overall delays will get worse.  

We all need to encourage the senate leadership to move this bill this year.  So, please email, fax and/or call both of your own senators and also Max Baucus and Jay Rockefeller.  Say something like "Please pass the FAA Modernization Act with passengers' rights this year."  

You can locate senator's contact information here: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

Or send us an email with your name and address and ask us to act on your behalf.  

Need you in D.C. April 7-9

Kate Hanni will be testifying before the House Aviation Subcommittee on Wednesday, April 9th, in Room 2167 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington DC.  The testimony is scheduled to start at approximately 2:00pm.  We need all the support we can get!

On April 7th and 8th, the coalition will be visiting senators' offices to gain support for passage of FAA modernization and our passengers rights legislation.  If you can be there let either Kate@flyersrights.com or Mark@flyersrights.com know so we can help get you set up with the right senators offices

Where are Clinton, McCain and Obama?

Earlier this week on CNN, Kate challenged the presidential candidates to speak out on passengers' rights issues.  Later in the day Senator Clinton released a statement through her campaign office saying that "the Federal Government must act."  But that's not enough!  The candidates and all senators must act to get the FAA bill to the floor. There's too much at stake for the presidential candidates to wait on the sidelines.

Need Hotline Volunteers

The hotline (1-877-FLYERS6) is going strong, and we need more volunteers to help with the calls.  Just takes a few hours a week.  We also need a new hotline coordinator to commit to managing the other operators.  

If you can help, please email Kate (kate@flyersrights.com).

Donations

Look for a fundraising email in the upcoming week.  We need financial support to conduct the lobbying effort in Washington, D.C. next week.

We now have a subscription-based method of donation so that you can sign up to donate automatically on a monthly basis.  This makes it easier for many to give a small amount per month rather than large chunks of money annually.  To sign up please go to our website (http://www.flyersrights.com/contribute.html) and select the monthly contribution of your choice.  Credit cards or Paypal can still be used for single donations.  For the monthly subscription, you will need to set up a Paypal account.  It's easy!  The buttons will walk you through the steps.

We also accept checks.  Please make checks payable to "CAPBOR" and send directly to:

CAPBOR
C/O Kate Hanni
159 Silverado Springs Drive
Napa, CA 94558

FYI, no one gets paid from these donations.  All monetary contributions pay for our bulk email service, website and travel expenses.

Articles

Court ruling grounds passenger bill of rights
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/03/lede-edit-1.html

Airline passengers deserve basic rights
http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080327/OPINION/803270336/1005/OPINION

Bad News For Airline Passengers
http://theboard.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/bad-news-for-airline-passengers/?hp

Subscriber Information

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Best Regards,

Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights

Kate Hanni
Founder and Spokesperson
CAPBOR
(707) 337-0328
http://www.flyersrights.com
http://strandedpassengers.blogspot.com

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