Rallying the Troops on Airline Issues

The two major travel-agent groups in the U.S. are racing to harness consumer anger at the airlines by enrolling them in lobbying efforts.

The American Society of Travel Agents, which represents about 10,000 travel agencies, this week is sending out form letters for lobbying Congress to its 31 chapters, which are being encouraged to pass them on to agents and customers as “ticket stuffers”--mailings included with plane tickets. ASTA also plans to post the letters on its Internet site, https://www.astanet.com. At least nine bills concerning air passenger rights have been introduced in Congress this year.

The more ambitious plan, by the smaller, 4,500-member Assn. of Retail Travel Agents, would create a nonprofit, Internet-based organization to lobby Congress for rights of airline and cruise passengers, hotel guests and other travelers. It would also provide consumer information. ARTA President John Hawks says it would be the first such consumer group exclusively for travelers. He said ARTA applied several months ago to the IRS for nonprofit status for the group, and hopes to launch it by June 1, with members culled from travel chat rooms, Web sites and other Internet sources.