Congressman Dan Lipinski (IL-3) has introduced the Comfortable and Fair Flights Act of 2015 to ensure that airline passengers have some basic rights and protections when traveling on commercial airlines. 
 
 “More and more, when airline passengers get on a flight they expect to suffer from uncomfortable conditions; as a frequent flyer I understand this,” said Rep. Lipinski. “One thing they should never have to worry about is access to a bathroom. Unfortunately, commercial flights are not required to depart with a functioning bathroom, sometimes forcing passengers to endure a trip without this basic necessity. Moreover, as ancillary fees continue to grow, the specter of an in-flight bathroom fee continues to loom in the background since first being broached in 2010. 
 
 “Additionally, many of us are all too familiar with paying baggage fees and have come to accept them as part of the flying experience. While lost and delayed baggage rates are declining, passengers who suffer from this inconvenience do so without the right to a refund, even after hours or days of delay. Simply put, if you pay for a service, you should get that service promptly or get your money back.” 
 
 Lipinski’s Comfortable and Fair Flights Act of 2015 would remedy these issues with three straightforward provisions. First, if the bathrooms on an aircraft are not functioning properly before departure, passengers would have the option to change their flight plans without incurring a change fee. Second, no commercial airline would be permitted to charge a fee for lavatory use. Third, airlines would be required to refund bag fees to passengers who have had the arrival of their bags delayed by two or more hours. 
 
 “These are all common sense provisions that will help protect the consumer rights of passengers,” stated Lipinski. ||||| Back in 2010, European budget airline Ryanair floated an idea: What if they charged customers to pay to use the restroom? Or just removed the bathrooms all together, and put in some extra seats? (Ryanair has a history if seeing just how many frills in can remove from flying—it's also proposed standing-room only flights, having passengers load their own luggage into airplanes, and eliminating the position of co-pilot, so all planes fly with just one pilot.) 
 
 The plan did not take off, with some going so far as to call it "inhumane," but one Chicago congressman wants to make sure in-flight pay toilets never become reality. Rep. Dan Lipinski, a Democrat from Illinois, proposed legislation, dubbed the "Comfortable and Fair Flights Act of 2015," that would make it illegal for airlines to ever charge for the bathroom. 
 
 Said Lipinski in a statement: 
 
 "More and more, when airline passengers get on a flight they expect to suffer from uncomfortable conditions; as a frequent flyer I understand this. One thing they should never have to worry about is access to a bathroom. Unfortunately, commercial flights are not required to depart with a functioning bathroom, sometimes forcing passengers to endure a trip without this basic necessity. Moreover, as ancillary fees continue to grow, the specter of an in-flight bathroom fee continues to loom in the background since first being broached in 2010." 
 
 It should be noted that no American carrier has ever suggested charging for using the restroom, but there are plenty of horror stories of multi-hour flights endured without a working restroom. Current FAA regulations do not specify whether airlines must have working restroom facilities aboard; it's something that remains at the discretion of the airline itself. 
 
 Lipinkski's proposal also carries a interesting addendum, and one that is frankly more likely to affect travelers: All airlines would be forced to refund extra checked bag fees to anyone who has the arrival of their bag delayed by two or more hours. 
 
 Source: Yahoo.com ||||| Can you imagine fumbling for change when you gotta go? 
 
 The idea of having to pay a fee to use the restroom on an airplane seems outlandish and ludicrous – which, of course, is precisely the reason some people fear it could happen, especially in this day and age of airlines raking in monstrous cash from ancillary fees. 
 
 In fact, one United States congressman is concerned it could happen he has filed a bill in the House over it. 
 
 The proposal by Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) is part of a larger measure known as the Comfortable and Fair Flights Act of 2015. Not only would the bill prohibit airlines from adding bathroom fees to its myriad charges for ancillary fees ranging from seat selection to baggage to snacks, but would also allow passengers to change flights for free if bathrooms on their scheduled flights are out of order, and require airlines to issue refunds for bag fees if luggage is delayed by two or more hours. 
 
 As crazy as all that might seem, it’s not exactly far-fetched. Five years ago, European low-budget carrier Ryanair first proposed such an idea. 
 
 "By charging for the toilets we are hoping to change passenger behavior so that they use the bathroom before or after the flight," Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara told London's Daily Mail at the time. 
 
 That idea was quickly abandoned over several concerns, not the least of which was passenger outrage and a very simple way around it – one person pays to use the loo, and then pays it forward as each subsequent lavatory user simply holds the door open for the next person so they don’t have to pay. 
 
 "More and more, when airline passengers get on a flight they expect to suffer from uncomfortable conditions; as a frequent flyer I understand this,” Lipinski said in a statement. “One thing they should never have to worry about is access to a bathroom. Unfortunately, commercial flights are not required to depart with a functioning bathroom, sometimes forcing passengers to endure a trip without this basic necessity. Moreover, as ancillary fees continue to grow, the specter of an in-flight bathroom fee continues to loom in the background since first being broached in 2010.” 
 
 Lipinski said his bill was to ensure basic rights for passengers traveling on U.S. commercial airlines, including lost or delayed baggage. 
 
 "Many of us are all too familiar with paying baggage fees and have come to accept them as part of the flying experience," he said. "While lost and delayed baggage rates are declining, passengers who suffer from this inconvenience do so without the right to a refund, even after hours or days of delay. Simply put, if you pay for a service, you should get that service promptly or get your money back.” 
 
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– Your typical airline passenger is stuck in a cramped box several miles in the air—already peeved by baggage fees, reduced legroom, and a generally miserable experience—so why not, when nature calls, hit them with another fee to hit the bathroom? Ryanair floated the idea in 2010, disastrously, but just in case the idea should ever occur to American carriers, we present the case of Rep. Dan Lipinski, an Illinois Democrat apparently seeking the title of Hero to the American Traveler. Lipinski has put forth a bill called the Comfortable and Fair Flights Act of 2015, reports Fox News, which tells airlines "don't even think about it" in a number of ways—including banning so-called "pee fees." Per a Lipinski statement: "More and more, airline passengers ... expect to suffer from uncomfortable conditions. One thing they should never have to worry about is access to a bathroom. Unfortunately, commercial flights are not required to depart with a functioning bathroom, sometimes forcing passengers to endure a trip without this basic necessity. Moreover, as ancillary fees continue to grow, the specter of an in-flight bathroom fee continues to loom." But Lipinski's bill doesn't just deal in future hypotheticals: As Popular Mechanics notes, the bill "carries [an] interesting addendum, and one that is frankly more likely to affect travelers: All airlines would be forced to refund extra checked bag fees to anyone who has the arrival of their bag delayed by two or more hours." Or, as Lipinski puts it: "Simply put, if you pay for a service, you should get that service promptly or get your money back."