As I said in my opening comments, we recognize that there are other issues on this beyond economics. Our purpose in coming here today was that we had heard comments in the House and whatnot that the inconvenience to the industry would be another 60 minutes or 30 minutes flight time. So what we want to do today is point out to you that, no, the economic implications of it are far broader.
That does not mean, and we are not suggesting, that our economic conditions must trump the other considerations that you as legislators have to look at, but I certainly think it is a consideration that has to be put on the table as you factor in what you're going to do with this legislation.
As far as suggestions and whatnot, at the end of the day you have to keep in mind....
Mr. Byrne was asking how your day had started off. The first five minutes sitting here, I was being told I'm going to be sued.
The air carriers collect this information because we are told by regulatory authorities to collect it. We spend millions of dollars on our IT and our reservation systems to ensure we do not run afoul of any of the regulations in any of the jurisdictions we fly into.
So there is an inherent extremely large cost to us on an ongoing basis. I could make the argument that this cost is directly related to ensuring privacy and regulatory compliance by air carriers, so yes, we certainly are interested in it. We ensure that the information we are providing is only in the context the regulator has asked us for.
In terms of what that information is and in terms of how it should be used or should not be used, that decision is made by regulators in various jurisdictions and at this table here. So yes, we are concerned about it, but we are also very concerned about the economic impact and the jobs impact that will occur if this legislation doesn't pass.