Norton Wants Hearing on Abusive Removal of United Airlines Passenger from Flight

WASHINGTON, D.C. – (RealEstateRama) — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and its Subcommittee on Aviation, released the following statement calling for a hearing on the violent removal of a passenger from a United Airlines flight.

“I deplore the violent removal of a passenger from a United Airlines flight this weekend. Airline passengers must have protections against such abusive treatment. I am asking our committee for a hearing, which will allow us to question airport police, United Airlines personnel, Federal Aviation Administration officials, and airport officials, among others, about whether appropriate procedures were in place in Chicago and are in place across the United States when passengers are asked to leave a flight. The only information available has been that perhaps $800 was offered to leave the flight. Federal rules require airlines to give passengers four times their fare or up to $1,250 if they are bumped from an overbooked flight. We need the facts on why airlines overbook so many flights. If overbooking is to be permitted, there must be accountability from the airlines in exchange. Tomorrow, I will release a letter to Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) and Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) requesting a committee hearing to examine this and other incidents on flights.”