Isn't the legislative process a wondrous thing when it works in
your favor? It worked for the travel industry last week on Capitol
Hill.
Three Senators, two Democrats and one Republican, pulled a slick
move by tacking a pair of toothy amendments on to a transportation
appropriations bill during floor debate: one on mandatory
disclosure of overbooked flights and the other requiring carriers
to make lowest-fare tickets available to consumers.
The timing -- this was last Wednesday, the same day the airlines
released their own tepid customer service plans -- was impeccable.
The airline lobby was caught with its pants at half-mast. The
Senate, apparently swayed by a pair of studies condemning the
airlines' self-imposed reforms, took a big bite out the airlines'
exposed backsides by voting unanimously for the bill.
Ain't Democracy grand?