Travel Advisors Attend ASTA Legislative Day 2025 Amid Government Shutdown

Washington, D.C. – The ongoing government shutdown didn’t stop more than 200 travel advisors from descending on Capitol Hill for the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA)’s Legislative Day 2025.  

ASTA hosted programming for the annual event at Hilton Washington, D.C. The Wharf this year. For 90 of the 230 in attendance, who came from 43 states including Alaska and Hawaii, it was their very first time participating in Legislative Day. 

“Congress needs to hear from us,” said Zane Kerby, president and CEO of ASTA. “If we fail to show up at our appointed times, our concerns go unheard and our perspectives unconsidered. It’s about educating lawmakers about who we are, what we do, and why their decisions matter to our business and to the traveling public.” 

The week began with a Travel Industry Forecast presentation at the National Press Club on Oct. 6, continued with training sessions on Oct. 7, and concluded with the whole reason why this event exists – meetings with members of Congress and their staffers – on Oct. 8.  

A total of 165 meetings took place; only 16 were cancelled due to the shutdown and will be rescheduled virtually once the shutdown ends. Aside from some slightly longer security lines and fewer dining options inside Capitol buildings, the shutdown did not have any major impact on the day. 

Advocating for Federal Policies 

There were three legislative priorities on the docket this year: the Flight Refund Fairness Act (H.R. 5556), the ACPAC Modernization Act (H.R. 5663), and the Modern Worker Empowerment Act (H.R. 1319/ S. 2228).  

“The laws that are passed have an impact on how we operate and without our input, most of the time government officials get it wrong,” said Alex Eaton, CEO of World Travel Service, who attended for the third time this year. “Legislative Day is our opportunity to make things right. It truly is our chance to make ourselves heard in government.” 

The Flight Refund Fairness Act addresses a current law that ASTA says unintentionally harms small travel businesses, requiring ticket agents to refund canceled or significantly delayed flights in seven days, while airlines only need to refund the ticket agent “promptly.” The proposed bill would require airlines to reimburse the ticket agent “merchant of record” (the travel advisor) within seven days of a flight cancellation or significant delay. 

“This could cripple the small business in our network if they have to refund tickets before they have the funds back from the airline to do so. [Lawmakers] need to look at how the cash flow works for advisors and consider who is actually holding the funds. I would never want to see something like this put the businesses of our network members in financial risk, or deter them from ticketing air all together,” said Alicia Onello, director of network operations for Envoyage. 

The ACPAC Modernization Act would add a ticket agent member to the Department of Transportation’s Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee (ACPAC). ASTA argues that travel advisors book 781,000 airline tickets per day on behalf of their clients, and therefore, should have a seat on that committee. It also could have prevented the harmful airline ticket laws from being passed in the first place. 

Lastly, ASTA reignited their fight for The Modern Worker Empowerment Act this year; they had not spoken about the issue to Congress since 2020. It is the only partisan issue they’re supporting, with not a single Democrat signing on. The bill would standardize the definition of an independent contractor (IC) because it is currently different when dealing with the IRS and Department of Labor, creating risk and confusion for businesses. 

“We all have ICs, and the lack of clarity and lack of consistent language in federal (and state) laws concerning ICs makes it impossible to create business policy,” Eaton said. “How do you manage ICs when you don’t have a consistent set of rules? It’s impossible. I think our efforts will help bring clarity to the laws and make it better for agency owners.” 

Boosting Travel Advisor Visibility 

During training, advisors learned about how to tell the story of their business to legislators. David Lusk, founder and CEO of Key Advocacy, led a session about the art of storytelling, and Jessica Klement, ASTA’s vice president of advocacy, held informational sessions and a panel with Congressional staffers. Later on, Lusk joined with Laura Vogel, ASTA’s director of advocacy, to lead delegations in workshops so they could practice what they would say in their meetings.

Attendees reported that the increased learning from past Legislative Days has helped better prepare them for the big day. “The ASTA team has it down to a science,” said Jay Ellenby, president of Safe Harbors Business Travel.

The goal was to form a connection with lawmakers – similar to how travel advisors form long-term relationships with clients – and drive that home with their “asks,” the three policies ASTA is advocating for. Ideally, this also helps boost visibility for the travel advisor profession on the Hill.

With many new members of the House and Senate this year, Klement said the meetings were not only an opportunity to talk about legislation, but to build recognition with representatives. 

“This is a great time to spend some time educating new members and likely new staff about your travel agency and the travel advisor profession,” she said. “This really does present a lot of opportunity to talk more about your business and what you do as opposed to going through the issues.”   

Travel advisors are beginning to see the impact of showing up at their legislators’ doors. Onello attended for the second time this year and had positive experiences across the board. 

“We had one meeting where they remembered us and some of the conversations members of our delegation had with them last year, making our asks for their support much easier,” she said. “Our voices collectively can absolutely make a difference.”