United Airlines spent millions fighting proposals to protect passenger rights

United Airlines, the Chicago-based giant at the center of a public relations storm for its forcible removal of a passenger from a weekend flight, has spent more than $41 million during the past decade to lobby the federal government, often battling consumer-friendly causes.

A MapLight/International Business Times review of records kept by the Center for Responsive Politics found that during the last two-year session of Congress, the airline spent $7.26 million to fight legislation that included measures to create minimum airline seat sizes; require airlines to allow families to sit together on flights; and prohibit airlines from charging customers to use an airplane bathroom.

United backed up those lobbying expenditures with millions of dollars of campaign contributions to federal lawmakers and political committees — and it is a member of a lobbying group that successfully pressed the Trump administration to delay proposed rules requiring airlines to more transparently disclose their fees.