Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., has proposed legislation that would prevent airlines from charging passengers to use the bathroom during flights.
Lipinski said passengers are already faced with “uncomfortable conditions,” and said that as airlines charge for more and more services, Congress should head off the idea that they might charge for bathroom use.
“One thing [passengers] should never have to worry about is access to a bathroom,” Lipinski said Wednesday. “Unfortunately, commercial flights are not required to depart with a functioning bathroom, sometimes forcing passengers to endure a trip without this basic necessity.”
“Moreover, as ancillary fees continue to grow, the specter of an in-flight bathroom fee continues to loom in the background since first being broached in 2010,” he added.
His bill, the Comfortable and Fair Flights Act, would require flights to have functioning bathrooms, and if they don’t, people would be allowed to change their flight plan without a fee. It would also expressly prohibit airlines from charging people for using lavatories.
Lipinski, who admits he’s a frequent flyer, also said airlines shouldn’t be allowed to charge people for services and then fail to provide those services satisfactorily. As a result, his bill would also require airlines to refund bag fees to passengers whose bags arrive more than two hours late.
‘”These are all common sense provisions that will help protect the consumer rights of passengers,” Lipinski said.
The website FiveThirtyEight wrote in 2014 that airlines might soon start charging people to use the bathroom as they look to keep cutting costs.
It also said Ryanair considered the move in a bid to change passengers’ behavior. Ryanair is a discount airline out of Ireland.
Read his bill here:
