You signed the Petition for an Airline Passengers Bill of Rights at some point during the past year.  That's why you are receiving this email from the all-volunteer coalition fighting for your rights in Congress and across the country.  Some of you may be seeing this newsletter for the first time, and others may be seeing it for the first time in several months.  We've changed email providers, at least temporarily, so it this email is also coming from a different email domain.  We've had some delivery problems.

Donations needed:  We desperately need contributions.  The press conference at San Francisco Airport supporting the new California PAX Rights Bill cost approximately $1000.  We need help to pay for travel and expenses for the next important trip to Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.  We're releasing our 2007 Report Card in D.C., and then supporting passengers' rights bills in each of these states.  This is critical to future of federal legislation.  We're driving our own cars, paying for our own gas and food, but we must have enough money for hotels and Kate's airfare.  

So please help us to help you.  We're working to prevent you or your family members from being held on a tarmac without having food, potable water (without coliform bacteria – see below) and to require time limits.  Please visit http://www.flyersrights.com/contribute.html to contribute or send a check to the address in the Donations section below.  Every little bit helps.

Contents:

Federal Legislation Update

The FAA Reauthorization Bill which contains our hard fought passengers' rights language which is attached to thas been delayed is on life support.  The problems have nothing to do with our language.  Senators have been unable to resolve their differences in regard to unrelated funding issues, and now it looks like the bill will not be passed during this Congress.

What does that mean to all of us?  Well, we are still working on three fronts; First, we are supporting passengers' rights bills in individual states like New York, California, Pennsylvania and New Jersey; Second, we are working to change bad language in a DOT administrative rulemaking process that, if improved, could effectively replace the legislation pending in the FAA bill anyway; And third; we still have the original bills submitted in the House and Senate that we can work to support.  

State Legislation Update - Hearing in NYC on March 5 – We Need You!

Lots of activity here:  

  1. New York residents!  The airlines are appealing the NY State Passengers' Rights Law.  Please join us at 10:00 AM on March 5th in Lower Manhattan at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10007.  We need as many people as possible to attend this hearing.  Show your support for your rights!
  2. Pennsylvania residents!  Please contact Representative Preston, Chairman of the PA House Consumer Affairs Committee and ask him to schedule a vote on the PA Airline Passengers Rights Bill - HB2055.  Here's his contact information:

    http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/house_bio.cfm?id=85
  3. Pittsburgh, PA area residents!  On February 28th Kate will be in Pittsburgh for the start of a statewide tour to support the PA Passengers Bill of Rights.  If you have any personal media contacts in Pittsburgh, please contact Kate so that we can arrange for interviews.  
  4. Harrisburg, PA area residents!  On February 29th Kate will be in Harrisburg for a press conference about the PA Passengers Bill of Rights.  If you have any personal media contacts in Harrisburg, please contact Kate so that we can arrange for interviews.  
  5. Philadelphia, PA area residents!  On March 1-3 Kate will be in the Philadelphia area for several media interviews.  We can always use more.  If you have any personal media contacts in Philadelphia, please contact Kate so that we can arrange for interviews.  
  6. Trenton, NJ area residents!  On March 4 Kate will be having a joint press conference with NJ Assemblyman Sam Thompson at the New Jersey State House in Trenton, Room 209.  Please come and support us for your bill of rights!  
  7. We NEED people in every state where a law has been introduced to become active even if a few minutes a week.  Or we WILL FAIL and the Airlines Will WIN AGAIN!  

2007 Report Card Press Conference – E-Coli in Your Water! 

We will release our second and final 2007 report card on airline service at a press conference in Washington, D.C. on February 27th.  The CAPBOR report card will reveal what the  government  statistics and the  airlines refuse to report  - which airlines have the most strandings (prisoner hours per airline)  as reported by our 22,000 plus members and hotline callers.  We will also be revealing new Environmental Protection Agency data on the amount of coliform bacteria found in airline water.  Yes, if you get a drink with ice, coffee or tea on at least one airline you have almost a 50% chance of drinking coliform infected water.  The presence of coliform indicates that organisms of fecal origin like E-coli may be present.  And you thought the other passengers were the ones making you ill!

American Airlines and United Airlines refused to allow the EPA to release their results.  Surprise, surprise.  

Kate Speaking at National Tarmac Delay Task Force Kickoff Meeting

As you may know, last month Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters selected Kate Hanni to be a member of the National Task Force to Develop Model Contingency Plans to Deal with Lengthy Airline On-Board Ground Delays (Tarmac Delay Task Force).  Kate has also been asked to give the kickoff speech for the first meeting in Washington on February 26th.

The Coalition Needs Volunteers

We're getting spread pretty thin with all this work!  Help!  We need volunteers for the following positions and other roles:

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

Have a Disability?  Are You Afraid to Fly?

We're looking for people who have a disability that causes you to be afraid to fly because of being stuck on aircraft, or for any other reason.  You must be willing to do a short interview on camera talking about that fear.

Donations

We have implemented a subscription-based method of donation so that you can sign up to donate automatically on a monthly basis.  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

Kate on Fox News – Airline Water – Friday, February 15, 2008
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3ijpB8rrcuA

Airline passengers may get extra benefits – Kate Hanni and Assemblyman Mark Leno
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=5955312

Getting serious about passenger rights
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23012559/

Straighten Up and Fly Right
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/02/straighten_up_and_fly_right.html

Subscriber Information

You are receiving this email because you signed our petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/airline/petition.html.  If you have trouble unsubscribing to these emails or changing your email address, please email mark@flyersrights.com. 

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