HR 5663: ACPAC Modernization Act

HR 5663 in plain English: This bill expands the membership of the Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee (ACPAC) to add a representative from ticket agents. ACPAC advises the Department of Transportation on improving airline customer service.

Stated purpose

This bill aims to modernize the Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee (ACPAC) by adding a representative of ticket agents to its membership, so that group has a formal voice when the committee advises the Department of Transportation on improving airline customer service.

Key points

• Adds a ticket agent representative to the Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee (ACPAC)
• ACPAC currently includes representatives of air carriers, airport operators, state or local governments, and nonprofit consumer groups

Arguments supporters make

• Ticket agents are a major part of how passengers buy flights, so leaving them off the committee creates a blind spot in consumer protection advice — adding them produces a more complete picture.
• Including ticket agents costs nothing and simply makes the advisory process more representative of the full travel industry.
• Consumers who book through third-party agents face unique issues that current committee members may not fully understand, so a ticket agent voice could lead to better-targeted protections.

Arguments opponents make

• Ticket agents are a commercial industry with their own business interests, and adding them to a consumer protection committee could shift its focus away from passengers and toward industry concerns.
• The committee already includes airline carriers who have overlapping interests with ticket agents, so this seat may be redundant rather than genuinely filling a gap.
• A small structural change to an advisory committee does not address deeper problems in airline consumer protection enforcement and may give a false impression of meaningful reform.

Tradeoffs

Adding an industry representative to a consumer protection body broadens the range of voices advising the government, but it also shifts the balance of the committee slightly further toward industry stakeholders and away from the consumer and government voices already represented.

Current status in Congress: Passed House.

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