The Biden administration is making a final push to establish major consumer protections for airline passengers. The administration already put a rule requiring airlines to pay ticket refunds, but this new proposal goes further. It aligns more closely with European standards for airline compensation.
The Department of Transportation announced plans Thursday, Dec. 5, taking steps toward requiring airlines to pay passengers with cash, meals and lodging if their flights get canceled or significantly changed due to a problem with the plane or a computer outage.
What it means for the consumer
The proposal includes payments from $200 to $775, depending on the length of delay.
Current regulations have airlines decide how long a delay must last before issuing refunds. Under the new plan, a significant delay lasts at least three hours for domestic flights and six hours for international flights.
The proposal will also likely include free rebooking on the next available flight. In addition, stranded passengers would receive meals and hotel stays.
The department is also weighing allowing small airlines to pay less compensation than large ones.
Nearing the end of the Biden administration
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the department is considering new protections near the end of President Joe Biden’s term because the airline industry is breaking records.
“This launch is a process that I think will lead to more improvements for passengers,” Buttigieg told MSNBC. “There’s really two goals here –make sure those kinds of disruptions are less likely to happen in the first place, and make sure you’re taken care of when they do.”
Could airline ticket prices increase?
Industry trade group Airlines for America responded to the proposal, saying it would drive up ticket prices.
“In this highly competitive industry, carriers don’t need further incentive to provide quality service. This proposal is simply one in a long string of ill-conceived and rushed rules from an administration intent on reregulating the U.S. airline industry,” Airlines for America said in a statement.
U.S. senators question airline executives
The move follows a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Dec. 4, on the multi-billion dollar business of airline fees, where airlines discussed implementing customer-specific pricing using AI and algorithms. That means everyone would pay a different price for the same seats on the same flight.
A congressional report out last week says that five of the nation’s largest airlines collectively took more than $12 billion in revenue from seating-related fees between 2018 and 2023.
What’s next?
The Biden administration is asking for public comment on its airline-consumer protections proposal as the possibility of these regulations becoming actual policy relies on the incoming Trump administration.
