Updating aviation consumer protections is one piece of a broader question

Guest:	Rep. Dina Titus (D)
Title:	Congresswoman representing Nevada's First District
Summary:	As the United States prepares to host the World Cup and the Olympics, attention is turning to how federal agencies plan for passenger experience and tourism capacity. A recent House‑passed aviation bill highlights those connections in a tangible way.

The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton provides expert insights on current events in the federal community. Read more interviews to keep up with daily news and analysis that affect the federal workforce. Reach out to Terry and the Federal Drive producers with feedback and story ideas at FederalDrive@federalnewsnetwork.com.

Interview transcript

Terry Gerton You have introduced a bill that has just passed the House to modernize ACPAC, the Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee. For folks who may not follow aviation policy closely, what is the role of that organization inside the Department of Transportation.

Dina Titus Well, it was created back in 2012, and it’s under the Department of Transportation, but more specifically under the FAA. And it was designed to promote protection for citizen interest for the consumer, so to be sure that people have the best traveling experience possible. Now, I represent Las Vegas, and of course tourism is our lifeblood, so we wanna be sure that their trip is good from start to finish. And ACPAC is the way that helps to make that possible. You have sitting on that board representatives from different aspects of the industry, whether it is airlines, hotels, everybody who’s kind of an expert in travel. Some members are voting members, some are just advisory members, but they all report back to the FAA.

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Terry Gerton Well, the flying public has had a variety of experiences lately, maybe not all of them good. What perspective did you see missing from the ACPAC structure that could help better address consumer experience?

Dina Titus Well, there are all kinds of things that people experience, like you just referred to, that make a trip unpleasant. How suddenly you have another charge or your plane gets canceled. How do you get a refund? Your luggage gets lost. All those things are just little parts of a trip that, if you’re not in the travel industry, you may not know how to make it work. And that’s why you need those experts at the table. Who was missing were the ticket agents. Now you still have ticket agents who do a billion dollars worth of business last year, book travel for families, for vacation, for conferences. And so they weren’t able to have a vote on that commission, even though they certainly are experts kind of from soup to nuts when you book a whole trip for somebody. So we thought they should have more of a voice and a vote.

Terry Gerton When you think about what ticket agents bring to the conversation, what do you think they see in real time that some of those other policy makers might miss?

Dina Titus Well, you know, everybody kind of gets siloed sometimes. The hotels will see one thing, airlines will see something else. Sometimes their interests are contradictory. You know, airlines may want to charge you more and somebody else may not. And so I think if you have a ticket agent who’s responsible for doing the whole trip and has access to where are you gonna stay, what you’re gonna do, how are you going to get there, they can see the big picture. And be kind of more knowledgeable about what makes a good trip than people who are more in their own specific areas.

Terry Gerton This organization, as you mentioned, was created in 2012. Why did you think that 2026 was really the right time to modernize its membership?

Dina Titus Well, I had some input from the industry, from some consumer groups as well, and you’re seeing things in aviation that are challenging for the traveler. Think of a disabled traveler, for example, who has to deal with a wheelchair and have their equipment put in baggage and taken care of and stuff. More and more people are traveling, so that would be a new kind of customer that we need to accommodate. Also, now we’re seeing issues of travel with who wants to come to the United States. You know, we’ve insulted a lot of our friends and so they’re looking for other places to go. We need to promote tourism to the U.S. In Nevada, all the things that are happening with the tariffs and the rhetoric and just inflation has brought our tourism down. So whatever we can do to make the experience better. I think we need to do. And also this was a year for reauthorization of the FAA. We just did that. That was major policy. And since we’re looking at the FIA, why not add this to it?

Terry Gerton Congresswoman Dina Titus represents Nevada’s First District. So ma’am, this doesn’t actually change ACPAC’s authority or DOT’s regulatory powers. So practically speaking, how do you think adding ticket agents here, that additional voice on the panel will improve consumer protection?

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Dina Titus Well, I think they have more of a stake in things if they have a vote. I mean, that goes together. If you’re just advisory and you can’t really change the policy, there’s less of a stake in what’s going on there. So I think having them at the table, having their expertise, having their advice is all great, but let them actually have a say in the policy direction. And that’s the way you do it is with a vote

Terry Gerton now that the bill is passed the house with bipartisan support — congratulations — what should federal agencies and aviation stakeholders be watching for as the bill moves to the senate?

Dina Titus Well, we hope to get it out of the Senate. It’s bipartisan. It shouldn’t really be controversial. It wasn’t coming out of House. And as you know, in today’s politics, that’s very rare that you can find something like that. So we’re confident and we’re optimistic that it will move. And there is such an emphasis on travel these days that I think that helps to kind of put a spotlight on it. Also, though, I might just mention that this committee hasn’t met under the Trump administration. And so that’s something else that we’re doing on the side, is trying to encourage them, not just to have the voting member, but let’s have a meeting, let’s talk about these issues because they are increasingly important and we wanna encourage the administration to do that.

Terry Gerton And how has the administration responded to that encouragement?

Dina Titus Well, they haven’t had a meeting since August of 2024, and so they haven’t responded yet, but that doesn’t mean we quit trying. I wouldn’t be in this business if I weren’t an optimist.

Terry Gerton You’ve talked a couple of times here about the impact on Las Vegas of different sorts of disruptions in the tourism industry. You’ve also worked on legislation aimed at helping tourism-dependent regions build economic resilience. When you think about that, how important is it for federal development programs to recognize tourism as core infrastructure?

Dina Titus Oh, I think it’s very important. I’m the Democratic chair of the Tourism Caucus here in Congress. And in the past, tourism has kind of been like a little step child. People don’t realize the impact that it has on tax revenue, on job employment, on investment in bricks and mortar in a community. And it goes far beyond, let’s say the Las Vegas Strip. Lots of small businesses provide ancillary services in the tourism industry. And now there’s a big emphasis too on outdoor tourism. So let’s not just go inside and place lots, let’s also go out and hike in Valley of Fire. And so all of those things I think are important to bring tourism back. And when people are not coming, if it’s difficult to get a visa, if they worry that they won’t be able to get in or get out once they come, or if you’re insulting them, they’ll go somewhere else. All of those are, I think, practical and big-time considerations that everybody should realize — well, think about this, no matter where you live, you’re gonna have something that somebody wants to visit. Now, it may be a historical place. It might be a natural scenery kind of area. It might be the world’s largest ball of string, there is a place like that, or it might be The Las Vegas Strip, but everybody has something. And so somebody’s gonna come and visit it and you should recognize the importance of tourism as a part of the economy. And when you do economic development and develop things that promote that tourism, whether it’s infrastructure that you need to get people in and out of the area. Whether it’s support for small businesses that do provide those ancillary services, those are the kind of things that economic development can do that tie to tourism.

Terry Gerton Are there particular initiatives that your caucus is hoping to move forward?

Dina Titus Well, right now the talk in the caucus is just about the decline in tourism, especially from the international scene. What can we do to make that better? And especially in light of the two big international events that are coming, the World Cup and the Olympics. So those are kind of the challenges that we’re looking at that are pretty much on the horizon.

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