House bill would remove Obama-era Airfare rule

Travelers use the kiosk by the ticketing gate as they prepare for travel from Love Field airport, May 19-2023, in Dallas. Lawmakers are considering reversing an Obama-era rule that requires airlines to show the total price of a ticket upfront in advertising, while also making changes to training requirements for airline pilots and other changes in a massive bill covering the Federal Aviation Administration. File Lawmakers are considering rolling back the Obama-era rule that requires airlines to show the total price of a ticket upfront in advertising, while also changing training requirements for airline pilots and making other changes in a massive bill covering the Federal Aviation Administration.

On Friday, Republicans and Democrats on the House Transportation CommitteeHouse Transportation Committee released a 773-page proposal to reauthorize FAA programs for the next five years.

Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., described the proposal as a compromise and said that many issues could still be fought out when congressional committees begin considering changes in the legislation next week.

The FAA is being criticized for a lack of air traffic controllers, aging technology, and close calls between planes. The agency has a new acting administrator with no aviation experience. It has dragged out a Senate-confirmed leader for more than a year, since the last one resigned halfway through his term.

One proposal in the House bill would let airlines advertise the base airfare - including taxes and fees - as long as they include a link to the all-in price or disclose it some other way. That would weaken an Obama administration rule that airlines have long fought to kill, and consumer advocates are unhappy about the House move.

These protections were hard fought and took years to enact, said William McGee, an aircraft expert at the American Economic Liberties Project. Any consumer can tell you that online airline bookings are convoluted enough. The last thing we need is to roll back an existing protection that provides effective transparency. The House Committee leaders also suggest that they will allow people to become airline pilots with less time in the cockpit. The bill would not change the requirements for 1,500 hours of training, but it would allow 250 hours, up from the current 100 hours, to occur in simulators rather than flying a plane.

Airlines, particularly the small ones that operate regional flights, have long fought over the 1,500-hour rule, which already has exemptions that let military pilots and graduates of some aviation schools qualify with fewer hours. The law was instituted after a crash in 2009 that killed 50 people.

Garth Thompson, head of United Airlines' Air Line Pilots Association unit, said it is a horrible idea to weaken the rule.

The rule, like so many federal aviation regulations, is written in blood, Thompson said. The Colgan Air crash was a result of a series of experience issues that led to the regulation. It's something we can live with, he said. The change in pilot training rules, he said, is a priority of the Transportation Committee's Republican chairman, Sam Graves of Missouri, and both sides had to compromise during drafting of the bill.

Democrats were able to include policies they wanted, such as those covering wheelchair accessibility, Larsen said.

The bill also provides measures to enhance airport infrastructure and the supply of sustainable fuel. It would require airline planes to be outfitted with better voice recorders and, for the first time, cockpit video recorders to improve accident investigations. The pilots have sided with the video recorders.

Other controversial topics were also left out, such as raising the mandatory retirement age for pilots and easing restrictions on flights from Reagan Washington National Airport in northern Virginia.