A new rule on airline passenger rights and compensation has been proposed by the current secretary of the Department of Transportation of the United States to help ensure that airline passengers whose flights are either significantly delayed or canceled are not stranded and receive compensation — and your input is requested.
Rule on Airline Passenger Rights and Compensation: Your Input is Requested
The rule that was proposed by Pete Buttigieg and is under consideration by the Department of Transportation would require that airlines:
- Automatically pay cash compensation to passengers whose trip disruption is caused by an airline. Also being considered is whether small airlines should pay less than large airlines and whether or not compensation should be required when a passenger is notified a week or two in advance of the cancellation or significant delay. One tiered approach that is being considered is that compensation could range between:
- $200.00 and $300.00 for domestic delays of a minimum of three hours but fewer than six hours
- $375.00 and $525.00 for delays of a minimum of six hours but fewer than nine hours
- $750.00 and $775.00 for delays of a minimum of nine hours
- Offer free rebooking on the next available flight that is operated by the airline or its branded codeshare partners when:
- The flight is cancelled
- The departure of the domestic flight is delayed a minimum of three hours
- The departure of the international flight is delayed a minimum of six hours
- A delay results in a missed connection
- Flights on those airlines are not available within 24 hours, then any carrier with whom the airline has a commercial agreement to transport the passengers of that airline
- Provide meals, overnight lodging, and transportation to and from lodging for stranded passengers and establishing standards regarding what must be covered as part of each service, including how often it must be provided during lengthy disruptions. Additionally, airlines are to be required to automatically pay a minimum reimbursement for each service an affected passenger is entitled to receive when airlines do not provide these services upfront; and passengers do not submit receipts for costs up to a maximum reimbursement threshold per service.
Comments that are also being solicited include:
- On when to consider a cancellation or delay within the control of an airline
- Whether airlines should provide free rebooking and certain services — such as meals as one example — during significant delays or cancellations regardless of cause, as with during extreme weather events as one example
- How to incentivize large airlines to provide rebooking reciprocity to small airlines or disincentivize large airline practices that prevent rebooking reciprocity
- What notifications should be required to ensure that passengers receive the correct information from the airline in a timely manner
- What customer service standards might be necessary to minimize wait times for passengers affected by a cancellation or delay
“Cancellations and lengthy flight delays can pose significant hardship, stress, and financial cost to travelers”, according to this official article that was released from the Department of Transportation of the United States earlier today, Thursday, December 5, 2024. “The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that flight cancellations from July 2021 through April 2022 potentially affected over 15 million passengers and flight delays potentially affected over 116 million passengers. According to data from U.S. airlines submitted to DOT, in both 2022 and 2023, over 60% of three-hour or longer domestic flight delays were airline-caused.”
You can learn more about your protections when you travel via airplane here; and consumers may file an airline complaint with the Department of Transportation here.
Final Boarding Call
I believe that airlines should offer compensation to passengers when flights are significantly delayed or canceled — but I do not particularly like the federal government needing to get involved in order for that to occur.
The aforementioned article states that “Canada, Brazil, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and other countries have adopted consumer protections that compensate passengers and provide services when an airline causes a significant delay. One study found that the European Union’s compensation and service requirements reduced the likelihood and duration of flight delays.”
I am not sure whether weather that affects the effects of travel should be part of the consideration, as airlines have no control over that — but then again, neither do passengers. Perhaps enough partial compensation should be given by airlines to passengers to keep them reasonably comfortable would be a good compromise.
What do you think?
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
