Travel activist deplanes: Lobbyist for air travelers returns to working world, encouraged by new rules

Airline passengers rights advocate Kate Hanni of Napa, declaring a "partial mission accomplished," said she is going back to work as a real estate broker following the government's announcement of new traveler protection rules.

Hanni, 50, said she needs to resume making a living after four years of activism that she described as "a financial black hole" paying her nothing.

A nine-hour stranding on the Austin airport tarmac in December 2006 turned Hanni, an acknowledged Type A personality, into a crusader for air passenger rights, including the right to get off a delayed flight after three hours.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made that a federal rule a year ago, establishing fines of up to $27,000 per passenger for tarmac delays exceeding three hours on domestic flights.

On Wednesday, LaHood set a four-hour limit for delayed international flights, effective in August. The new rules also require a refund of luggage check fees of $15 or more if the baggage is lost, and airline payments of up to $1,330 for passengers bumped from a flight.

Hanni, who was bombarded with media interviews on Wednesday at her Napa home, said the rules were "a huge deal ... an enormous bundle of passengers rights."

She said she already has one country property listing and is largely turning over operation of FlyersRights.org, her 25,000-member consumer organization, to a cadre of more than 20 volunteers.

"I have to work. We have to pay our bills," said Hanni, who has said she had sold $40 million worth of real estate in 2005 -- before the real estate bubble burst.

But she's not quitting advocacy altogether, even after getting "most of what we wanted" embodied in Transportation Department rules.

Hanni wants the protections written into law, and her ally, North Coast Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, is still pushing for that with his Air Passenger Bill of Rights Act.

The DOT rules have stopped "the airline industry's worst abuses, but there's still more work to be done," Thompson said in a press release. "Because these rules aren't codified as law, they can be rescinded at any time."

Hanni said the $120 billion-a-year airline industry is still lobbying hard against putting passenger rights into law.

If need be, Hanni said, she will return with her group to Capitol Hill, giving lawmakers the other side of the story.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com