Lawmaker to Airlines: Don't Even Think About 'Pee Fees'

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." (More airline industry stories.)