A new proposed federal rule would require airlines to pay cash to customers for “controllable” delays or cancellations.
On May 8, President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg delivered remarks on “holding airlines accountable.” The rule is being touted as a historic step toward ensuring passengers are adequately compensated for airline-caused snafus. But an industry group points out that severe weather and air-traffic control outages have lately been responsible for the lion’s share of the problems.
Biden told reporters that the European Union saw fewer travel disruptions after instituting a similar rule.
As the busy Memorial Day weekend travel season approaches, Biden said: “I know how frustrated many of you are ... I get it. That’s why our top priority has been to get American air travelers a better deal.”
It seems unfair that airlines would cover airfare, “but not the cost of hotels or transportation when you get left in limbo,” Biden said.
“When an airline causes a flight cancellation or delay, passengers should not foot the bill,” Buttigieg said in the release.
“This rule would, for the first time in U.S. history, propose to require airlines to compensate passengers and cover expenses such as meals, hotels, and rebooking in cases where the airline has caused a cancellation or significant delay,” he said.
The DOT stated that, right now, “no airline guarantees cash compensation” under those circumstances. The term “controllable cancellation and delay” still needs to be defined as part of the rule-making process.
“This rule-making could result in improved airline on-time performance,” DOT stated.
Buttigieg said that Biden is “relentlessly focused” on making life better for Americans.
Post-pandemic travel demand returned at a higher-than-expected rate, posing a challenge for airlines to keep up, Buttigieg said.
“Staffing and other issues meant that last summer we saw unacceptable rates of delays and cancellations, even on blue-sky days,” he said. Then, when foul weather struck in December, airlines that were “unprepared” to respond resulted in unacceptable levels of service, he said.
Airline Group Speaks Out
However, an airline advocacy group, Airlines for America (A4A), told The Epoch Times in an email, “U.S. airlines have no incentive to delay or cancel a flight and do everything in their control to ensure flights depart and arrive on time.”“But safety is always the top priority,” A4A stated. “We have the safest air travel system in the world because we never compromise on safety.”
Weather is one of the most significant factors affecting flight schedules, and “extreme weather” caused more than half of the flight cancellations during 2022, according to the group. Thus far in 2023, air carriers were at fault in about one-third of cancellations, A4A noted, while weather caused 58 percent of cancellations and National Airspace System (NAS) system failures nixed 8 percent of flights.
“Carriers have taken responsibility for challenges within their control,” A4A said. Airlines have been on a hiring spree to fill vacant positions as demand for travel rebounds post-COVID-19.
‘Pressure on the System’
At the same time, airlines have had to reduce schedules because of a shortage of air traffic controllers. Those professionals are under the purview of the Federal Aviation Administration.“U.S. airlines are currently accommodating record demand while operating 10 percent fewer flights than in 2019 to reduce pressure on the system,” A4A said.
DOT stated that it has been pushing for two years to “improve the passenger experience,” and as a result, the nation’s 10 largest airlines now “guarantee meals and free rebooking on the same airline” and nine guarantee hotel accommodations.
“DOT’s planned rule-making would make passenger compensation and amenities mandatory so that travelers are taken care of.”
