Fliers pay for the FAA -- but have little say

As Congress debates whether to radically change how the Federal Aviation Administration is funded and spend billions of dollars to update our air-traffic control system, it’s getting an earful from airports, airlines and business-jet owners.

Guess who has little clout on this issue? America’s millions of fliers, who foot much of the FAA’s bills by paying various taxes -- which can add 15% or more -- on airfares.

Under the FAA’s funding proposal, most ticket taxes and fees would disappear, replaced in large part by higher taxes on jet fuel and new fees assessed on commercial and private jets. (For details, visit www.faa.gov and click on “NextGen Financing Reform Act of 2007 [Reauthorization].”)

“There are not highly organized passenger groups that I’m aware of,” said former FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, who left this month after five years in the agency’s top post. As a result, she added, she knew of “nothing major . . . in the way of consumer input” on the funding proposal.

Neither Blakey nor the Air Transport Assn., which represents airlines, could say whether passengers would pay more or less for air travel under the FAA plan than they do now.

Blakey was right about one thing: There is no well-funded, broadly based organization that represents the average flier on Capitol Hill.

“The regular consumer groups are not focused on air travel,” said Paul Ruden, senior vice president for legal and industry affairs for the American Society of Travel Agents, a trade group based in Alexandria, Va.

That’s why passengers, he said, can get outgunned by “very formidable adversaries” in the affected industries.

Here are profiles of some groups, listed from the newest to the oldest, that say they represent fliers:

Coalition for an Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights, www.flyersrights.com/ index2.html. Founded in January by Kate Hanni, a real-estate broker living in Napa Valley, Calif., to press for passenger rights, this nonprofit group grew out of anger over long waits on the tarmac. As of last week, it claimed more than 18,000 members. Hanni said the group had collected about $20,000. She said she serves without pay.

Air Travelers Assn., www.air travelersassociation.com. On its website, the group, which is based in Potomac, Md., said it advocates for passengers on “airline safety, security, savings and service.”

President David Stempler, an aviation attorney, said the group is “in kind of a stagnant state” and has stopped adding members.

Founded as a for-profit company in 1997 as a sort of auto club for fliers, offering travel insurance and other aid and issuing a “report card” that rated airlines by accident rates, the group declined after the Sept. 11 attacks, Stempler said. He said it has hundreds of members but declined to give a figure. He said that his group is looking for a financial partner.

Aviation Consumer Action Project, acapaviation@yahoo.com. This Washington, D.C., group was founded by consumer gadfly Ralph Nader in 1971, using funds from a lawsuit settlement on bumping. It once had a paid staff but is now all volunteer.

The group acts as a voice for travelers on safety, security and passenger rights, said Executive Director Paul Hudson, who sits on advisory committees to the government. The group’s annual budget, from foundations and private donors, is less than $10,000, he added.

International Airline Passengers Assn., www.iapa.com. This London-based privately held company, which was founded in 1960 and claims more than 400,000 members worldwide, focuses on frequent fliers, mainly business travelers. Members pay $129 and up per year for travel discounts, insurance and other benefits. The group lobbies industry and government in the U.S. and elsewhere on behalf of frequent fliers.

Other organizations, such as the National Business Travel Assn., www.nbta .org, in Alexandria, Va., and the Business Travel Coalition, www.business travelcoalition.com, in Radnor, Pa., say they represent buyers, managers or providers of business travel.

American Society of Travel Agents, www.astanet.com. This trade organization, founded in 1931, claims more than 20,000 members. It may not have “passengers” in its name, but it advocates for them. Legal expert Ruden in April testified before the House subcommittee on aviation in favor of federal action to promote passenger rights.

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jane.engle@latimes.com