Legislation that would increase airport security, require airlines to refund baggage fees when luggage is delayed and speed the regulation of drones won approval in the Senate on Tuesday.
The bipartisan bill setting policy and funding for the Federal Aviation Administration is the second major transportation bill approved by the Senate within five months, coming after a six-year surface-transportation bill that passed both houses in November.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-South Dakota, called the bill “one of the most passenger-friendly FAA reauthorization bills we’ve seen, literally, in a generation.”
“This bill is the most pro-passenger, pro-security FAA reauthorization in recent history,” Thune said. “Travelers are frustrated, and this bill contains common-sense reforms.”
But the Senate resisted the wishes of members who wanted to restrict airlines from further shrinking the seat size and space between rows on commercial airlines. The bill moves on to the House, which voted in committee last month to defeat the seat-size proposal.
A House version of the bill, approved in committee but yet to get attention on the House floor, would radically restructure the FAA by spinning off 14,000 air-traffic controllers and about 24,000 other FAA employees into a federally chartered, private nonprofit corporation.
House leaders are faced with a decision over whether to proceed with that controversial provision or amend the bill on the House floor to bring it closer to the Senate measure.
The $7.1 billion Senate bill would also require airlines to state more clearly the fees they charge for things such as prime seat selection, checked baggage, changes and cancellations so passengers are better able to see the bottom line when they shop for the best ticket price.
Airlines would be required to refund baggage fees if the bags arrive more than six hours after a domestic flight has landed or more than 12 hours after an international flight.
In reaction to last month’s terrorist bombings at the Brussels airport, the Senate bill increases the vetting of airport workers, expands the number of Transportation Security Administration viper teams that sweep through airports unannounced to stop and search suspicious people, and doubles the number of TSA’s bomb-sniffing dogs.
The bill also would require the FAA to take measures to prevent hackers from tapping into jetliner control systems through entertainment devices brought aboard by passengers.