Lawmakers aim to raise penalties for US airline disruptions

By DAVID KOENIG
AP Airlines Writer

Congress is going to take another look at legislation covering the rights of airline passengers. Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Edward Markey of Massachusetts said Tuesday they re-introduced bills to increase penalties when airlines strand or delay passengers, and to limit airline fees. Both ideas have failed in previous years, but the senators say they’ve got a good chance of success this time because of outrage over debacles like the one at Southwest Airlines in December. But they’ll face obstacles. Republicans haven’t supported the measures yet. And airlines have succeeded before in lobbying Congress against proposals to limit or regulate the fees that they charge customers for services like checking baggage.