Both ASTA and the U.S. Travel Association have made it clear that a top priority going into 2024 is the FAA's reauthorization.
Without it, funding for the aviation industry will run out, something that has been avoided with short-term extensions. The House passed the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act last summer, but it has since stalled in the Senate.
But the House version contains many of the provisions advocated by ASTA. Among them: Clarifying language that would make advisors not responsible for client air-ticket refunds unless they possess the funds; a seat for the agency community on the DOT's Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee and a new passenger-experience advisory committee; and a requirement that the DOT streamline the process of making offline disclosures when selling air tickets to consumers.
U.S. Travel called passing a long-term FAA reauthorization "crucial."
"The bipartisan bill is a critical step in correcting years of federal underinvestment, which has left the system with 1,200 fewer air traffic controllers than a decade ago," the organization said. "FAA reauthorization is one step forward to achieve this goal."
Jessica Klement, ASTA's vice president of advocacy, said there was "optimism" Congress will wrap up FAA reauthorization by the end of February, but she added, "Things happen in Congress that we can't predict, like needing 15 or 17 votes to confirm a speaker only to have that person lose their job. I take a February time frame with a grain of salt."
A change in overtime
Another area of significance to travel advisors is the proposed Labor Department rulemaking that would raise the minimum salary for workers entitled to overtime pay from $35,568 to $55,068.
ASTA CEO Zane Kerby said in a letter to members of Congress that ASTA member agencies are "overwhelmingly small businesses, most of which operate on small profit margins and for which labor costs represent the most significant single business expense."
Kerby also said that compared with other industries, travel agencies are more reliant upon work performed after hours to meet the needs of clients traveling around the world.
Given this, he wrote, a change in overtime-pay requirements would have "a significant detrimental effect on agency profitability and/or the level of customer service that travel agency clients have come to expect."
For Klement, who assumed the Society's advocacy position in October, it's critical that members understand why legislation is important, especially on items that don't have as obvious an impact on advisors' day-to-day operations.
One example is the seat on the Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee: It's a "harder sell," Klement said, because members don't directly feel its importance. But having that seat could enable agency groups to stave off proposals before they make it to a rulemaking.
"It's incumbent on us at ASTA to make sure that they know" how important some of these provisions are, she said.
Overtime pay is something that needs less explanation.
"Travel advisors, a lot of times, work 24/7," Klement said. "They have clients in different time zones, in Europe, in Asia. And when they need them, they need them ...
"When you have to work in an industry where after-hours work is expected as part of the job, to take the threshold to pay overtime from $36,000 to 55,000, that's going to acutely affect their business. That one they can feel."