Trump administration ditches Biden plan to compensate travelers for airline delays
The Trump administration has officially withdrawn a proposal that would have compensated airline passengers for significant delays caused by problems within a carrier’s control.
Although this decision was announced in September, the Department of Transportation made it official on Monday in the Federal Register. He said he was withdrawing the advance notice of proposed regulations submitted under President Joe Biden in December.
Under the Biden-era plan, passengers would have received refunds based on the length of delays. The scale started at $200 and reached $775 for delays of at least nine hours.
The proposal was never adopted, but it would have brought U.S. regulations more in line with airline rules in Europe.
A department spokesperson said last week that the Biden-era proposal “does not reflect the compensation consumers are currently entitled to with respect to delays and cancellations.”
“These actions are part of our broader effort to ensure the traveling public is treated fairly, while recognizing how overly burdensome regulations will increase ticket prices for the traveling public and compromise security in the name of efficiency,” the spokesperson said.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
According to the Register, airlines and airline associations urged the ministry to abandon the proposed plan and insisted that deregulation is what leads to improved service. But consumer groups and “hundreds of individual commenters” supported the plan because it covered the cost of flight disruptions as well as additional hardship for passengers with disabilities.
The department ultimately decided that the added regulations “did not align with the policies and priorities of the department and the administration,” the Register notice states. He said some airlines already offer remedies to customers in the event of a cancellation or significant delay, including free rebooking options.
But while some airlines may cover costs related to additional meals, lodging or transportation, no U.S. airline has a policy requiring cash compensation for delays.
Airline data submitted to the ministry found that more than 60% of domestic flight delays of three hours or more in 2022 and 2023 were “airline-caused.”
The decision to withdraw the proposal comes after a government shutdown lasting more than 40 days strained an already strained air traffic control system. To cope with the shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered airlines to reduce flights by up to 6% to relieve pressure from ongoing staffing issues.
His plan initially would have reduced operations by up to 10% on Friday, but the shutdown ended Wednesday. The country’s airports resumed normal operations on Monday.
Next week is expected to be one of the busiest travel times of the year, with AAA projecting that 82 million Americans will be on the move from November 25 to December 1 to travel for the Thanksgiving holiday.
The transportation company predicts more people will choose to travel by car after weeks of chaos at airports.
