Nelson puts airlines on notice

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson took to the Senate floor today to put the airline industry on notice that “if they can’t get their act together and start treating the flying public with respect,” then Congress will be forced to act.
Nelson’s comments came after Spirit airlines canceled hundreds of flights over the past week, causing tempers to flare among passengers at Fort Lauderdale International airport yesterday.
Nelson, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee which oversees the nation’s airline industry, said he spoke about the incident today with the CEO of Spirit Airlines and the head of the Air Line Pilots Association.
“I have just gotten off the phone with the CEO of Spirit Airlines as well as the head of the Air Line Pilots Association and basically have told them that they should get this thing fixed and get it fixed quick,” Nelson said.
“What happened just last night in Fort Lauderdale is just another example of passengers becoming sick and tired of what they perceive as mistreatment by airlines,” Nelson continued. “I have no trouble in putting the airlines on notice if they can’t get their act together and start treating the flying public with respect rather than making them think that they are self-loading cargo then this Congress is going to be forced to act.”
Following is a rush transcript of Nelson’s remarks, and here’s a link to watch excerpts of his speech: https://youtu.be/3069qsHLdaA

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson
Remarks on the Senate Floor
May 9, 2017
Sen. Nelson: Mr. President, most everybody has seen the news of another disturbance with regard to an airline and an airline terminal. And, indeed, what has happened at the Fort Lauderdale Hollywood Airport just in the last day has been a disturbance that they had to call in the Broward County Sheriff’s Department to put down the disturbance because there were some upset people.
I have just gotten off the phone with the CEO of Spirit Airlines as well as the head of the Airline Pilots Association and basically have told them that they should get this thing fixed and get it fixed quick.
There is not so much a labor dispute because they are in negotiations and, I think, are reaching final conclusions, but as a result of some things with the schedule it caused a number of flights to be canceled, and unfortunately, canceled right at the last before you could let the people know, the passengers ahead of time, before they ever came to the airport. Even much more so of an irritant, they load them on the airplane as if they are ready to go and then tell them they don’t have a crew of pilots and, therefore, the flight has to be canceled. And those problems will go through today and tomorrow, I am given to believe, by having talked to the head of the pilots union as well as the CEO of the airline, that they will have this straightened out over the next several days and it’s been costly and it’s certainly been an irritant and an inconvenience to the passengers because 300 flights have been canceled already in the past several days and we’re going to see some more canceled in the next couple of days.
Now, this all culminated in what the American television viewer has seen, a chaotic scene at Spirit’s front ticket counter at the Fort Lauderdale airport after the passengers had to get off of the airplane and the canceled flight. As many people have seen this video. It’s now circulating online. Obviously these passengers were very frustrated and it took, unfortunately, the deputies coming in to put down the disturbance.
Now, having said that, this is just the latest, doesn’t that recall something else that has happened in the last few weeks? A passenger being dragged off of an airplane, beaten and bloodied, and then who has to come and get him but an element of the airport authority of Chicago. Haven’t we also seen on another TV episode, and isn’t this telling us something, that passengers are now recording evidence of how passengers are being treated because they have cellphones and cellphones have video cameras and so we saw an airline employee kind of go off on passengers in the case of another airline.
Well, airlines, you better start fixing this because the passengers are not going to tolerate it.
On the instant circumstance having talked with the CEO and the head of the union, they are in these discussions. I think they are going to get it fixed, but they need to fix it fast because the traveling public only has so much patience.
What happened at Fort Lauderdale was unacceptable and deeply unfair to the affected passengers, the overwhelmed airline employees, and local law enforcement. It was unfair.
So let’s don’t forget also in dealing with the Fort Lauderdale airport the memories are still fresh of the shooting that took place in January at baggage claim.
Now, what happened just last night in Fort Lauderdale is just another example of passengers becoming sick and tired of what they perceive as mistreatment by airlines, be it that circumstance in Chicago, the forcible removal of a passenger or be it failing airline IT systems and airline fees run amok.
And so the airlines better start paying attention to this. It appears that airlines are giving the impression that they have forgotten that their customers must come first. So what is it? I know the airlines, the companies don’t intend to do this, but it’s happening, it’s being recorded on video, and it is all the more causing people to express their frustrations.
So, Mr. President, I have no trouble in putting the airlines on notice if they can’t get their act together and start treating the flying public with respect rather than making them think that they are self-loading cargo, then this congress is going to be forced to act, and that time is going to come soon as the Senate begins work this year on what will be a bipartisan, long-term bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration. That bill is coming later this year.
So, Mr. President, I just want to say in conclusion we’ve had a hearing in our Commerce Committee on this and I thought that would be enough and this senator wouldn’t have to speak out anymore, but here again we have another incident.
My heart goes out, for example, to some of the CEOs, that they are trying to change a culture of treating with disrespect or ignorance of passengers. It’s important they change that culture because we will continue to see these kind of circumstances arise if passengers do not feel like that they are getting the proper respect that they deserve. After all, they are customers. They are paying customers of the airlines.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.