Senators decry state of air travel after passenger incidents

WASHINGTON (AP) — Air travel in the United States has become a combustible mix in which passengers aren't the only ones treated unfairly, senators were told today. Travelers all too frequently take out their frustrations on airline employees, including flight attendants and gate agents, speakers said a Senate hearing.

Senators from both parties said airlines must improve the way they treat their passenger, but they also said airline employees must be treated with respect. Lawmakers also revived talk of a congressionally imposed "Passenger Bill of Rights."

The Senate hearing comes after a passenger was dragged off a United Airlines flight last month and a separate incident on American Airlines in which a mother with a stroller was bullied by a flight attendant. Videos of both incidents were widely circulated on social media.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said air travelers frequently tell him they "feel like they're being treated as self-loading cargo rather than as valued consumers."

Passengers are so fed up they are becoming amateur detectives, Nelson said, using their cellphones to record incidents such as the removal of United passenger David Dao and the heated confrontation on the American flight.

Widely shared video of a bloodied Dao being dragged from the United flight, which he had refused to leave, sparked worldwide outrage and led to calls for a congressional crackdown on U.S. airlines.

"I take no pleasure in beating up the airlines, but in this case, it's warranted," said Nelson, the top Democrat on the Transportation Committee. "The fact is we wouldn't be sitting here today if the traveling public believed the airlines cared more about them than their own bottom lines."

Even as lawmakers spoke, another video surfaced showing a California family who say they were forced off a Delta plane and threatened with jail if they didn't give up one of their children's seats on an oversold flight.