First-Class Airfare for Members of Congress?—Not on Private Aircraft!
Legal eagle Carol A Laham was written an informative article featured the December 2007 issue of Airworthy: Insights into Current Aviation Legal Issues regarding the use of private corporate aircraft by elected officials. There are new laws in place that make it much harder for members of the Senate or Congress to hitch a ride on your plane.
Back in January 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives changed its internal House Rules to prohibit members of the House from flying on private corporate aircraft that are not used for commercial air services. When the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (HLOGA) was signed in September, this change became law. While the Senate did not go quite as far as the House, under HLOGA, Senate Members must now pay charter rates in order to use private aircraft for personal or political activity.
