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“We’re going to have to respond if an airline has a situation like that,” said Terry Slaybaugh, Dayton International Airport director. “We don’t want to be in a situation of having to guess whether or not the airline is right or the passenger is right.”
The provision is part of the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act, which would renew the agency’s funding for five years and just passed the U.S. House.
Turner said it includes protecting passengers from being bumped from their seats against their will, citing the high profile removal of a passenger in Kentucky, who recorded on video being dragged from a United flight so his seat could be given to a crew member.
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United has since changed its policy, but Turner said this is part of a larger issue of passengers needing protection from being bumped from flights.
“This bill, as it progresses from the House, would make law that if you’ve boarded a plane, you are guaranteed your seat on that plane and you would not be removed or bumped,” Turner.
Turner said the images of the Kentucky passenger being removed from the United flight “certainly concerned everyone as they wondered about their status as they boarded an airplane.”
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Turner said it includes language similar to his Hands Off Passengers Act to prohibit involuntary bumping of airline passengers once they have already boarded the plane and to clarify current regulations regarding compensation offered in instances of involuntary denied boarding.
Slaybaugh added “We would never want a revenue passenger, one of our business passengers, bumped off a flight so an airline employee can take their seat.”
The airport passenger protection is part of a larger bill to renew funding for the FAA that includes about $3.4 billion in airport improvement funds per year until 2023, which is about $4.5 million per year for airfield work in Dayton.
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