Date: September 2nd 2010

MEDIA ALERT

The American Society of Travel Agents, Business Travel Coalition and the Consumer Travel Alliance will launch on Tuesday, September 7 an initiative to encourage frustrated travelers to weigh in on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) regarding sweeping passenger protections and hidden airline fees. The NPRM comment period closes on September 23.

We will be conducting Mad As Hell Day! on September 23 wherein we will deliver a petition signed by thousands of travelers to the DOT Docket Room regarding hidden airline fees. Supporting this initiative is a new website (MadAsHellAboutHiddenFees.com), that will be in beta till week’s end. I would be happy to provide you with a look at the site on Friday; it will go live on Tuesday.

An important component of our announcement on Tuesday will be results from a just-concluded national consumer survey about airline fees. I would likewise offer to provide an advance copy of our press release in which the survey results are discussed.

Please let me know via email if you would like to receive this embargoed information.

Stories can be written for publication after 12:01am (EDT) on Tuesday, September 7. (Wire embargo: Wire services may distribute stories, but clients must hold for release until 12:01am on Tuesday, September 7.)

If you agree to these rules and would like this embargoed information, please so indicate in an email to mitchell@BusinessTravelCoalition.com

Kevin Mitchell
Chairman
Business Travel Coalition
610-999.9247



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