The plane ride from California to D.C. certainly isn’t my favorite part of the week. But I try to remind myself what a luxury it is for members of Congress to fly from home to the capital; we’ve been doing it for only about 75 years. I cannot picture the journey George Washington Wright, the first congressman to represent California’s 1st district, had to make in 1849 before there was even a transcontinental railroad. One trip back and forth for Mr. Wright likely took longer than all my yearly travel combined. Undoubtedly, aviation has revolutionized travel, not just for members of Congress, but for everyone.

My trips to and from D.C. are usually uneventful, and the occasional delays are nothing more than a nuisance. However, early this year, I became concerned about air travel conditions after a call from a constituent. She had been stranded on a plane in Texas for nearly nine hours, a three-and-a-half hour flight from California. She told me that passengers went without food and clean drinking water. The toilets were filled and passengers became sick from the smell. She told me that multiple other planeloads of passengers were put through the same ordeal, and the airline did very little to alleviate the problem.

Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident. This has been happening for years, and even prompted Congress to consider intervening in the late 1990s. The airlines promised to correct these problems themselves, and Congress gave them the chance.  Yet the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General reported in 2006 that many airlines were not providing the service they had promised. The episode involving my constituent and several other incidents over the last few months have generated a lot of media attention and demands from the public that — this time — Congress must do something.

The last thing anyone wants is to put the airlines at risk.  Whether for business or pleasure, millions of Americans rely on air travel. But something must be done to ensure that passengers aren’t put at risk either. We need reassurance that passengers will be treated fairly and decently when flying, even when the airlines are out of the media spotlight.

When consumers’ health and well-being are at risk, such as when passengers are held on a plane for long periods of time without food, water and facilities, the public relies on Congress to step in. I introduced the Airline Passenger Bill of Rights because I think that, regardless of extenuating circumstances, airlines should — at the very least — provide passengers with a minimum level of safety and comfort.

This bill requires airlines to meet a reasonable set of industry-wide standards, including a limit on the number of hours a passenger can be held on a plane. It requires airlines to have adequate amounts of food, clean drinking water, a reasonable temperature and usable facilities when extended delays do occur.

However, the burden cannot be entirely on the airlines. The government needs to ensure our aviation infrastructure is not inhibiting the airlines’ ability to keep passengers safe and comfortable. If airport procedures make it hard for airlines to deplane passengers during extended delays, then we need to change those procedures. My bill calls on the Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration to work closely with the airlines to ensure the standards in the Passenger Bill of Rights can be met without exception.

This bill is not about regulating how airlines should provide customer service. Some airlines will always have better service records than others. However, we cannot allow airlines to treat passengers as poorly as they have in the incidents of late. If they do not meet these standards, they should be held accountable. That is why I have called for the Passenger Bill of Rights to be included in every airline’s contract of carriage, a legal agreement between airlines and passengers. Passengers deserve some recourse when they are mistreated by airlines. And I believe the airlines that practice these standards will be better off for it. They will see the rewards of being known as a company that puts the needs of its passengers first.

The good news is that my bill has already made significant progress. I am pleased that House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) and Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) have taken up the cause of aviation consumer issues and made a commitment to improving conditions for passengers. I believe this action is an important step toward strengthening the aviation industry, which is something from which we will all benefit.

Thompson is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where he serves as chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Human Intelligence, Analysis and Counterintelligence.

SPECIAL SECTION: Transportation
Promoting public transit for energy independence
Should air travelers have a passenger bill of rights?
Terrorism and public transportation
To meet expected demand, increased flexibility needed in financing capital projects for airports
Using the latest technology to secure our ports
The Safe American Roads Act of 2007 would halt Mexico-to-U.S. trucking plan
A new vision for our nation’s transportation system
U.S. should drop requirement of pilots to retire at 60, but FAA change flawed
Nation isn’t keeping up with transportation challenges