United States President Biden and Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg will announce new rules later today to increase accountability on airlines for controllable delays or cancelations. The anticipated regulations are expected to expand passenger rights and set specific guidelines on minimum passenger compensation in such events, similar to the EU261 flight compensation regulation of the European Union.
While such laws are relatively common worldwide, the concept of passenger compensation is novel in the United States. Per the current rules, the Department of Transportation has no fixed compensation structure for passengers affected by lengthy delays. The government body only specifies compensation for passengers involuntarily denied boarding due to overbooking.
More clarity soon
A White House official said POTUS and Secretary Buttigieg will announce the proposed plan in greater detail on Monday (today) while hinting towards the possibility of mandating compensation from airlines for passengers subjected to “controllable airline cancelations.”
Secretary Buttigieg said in a statement,
“When an airline causes a flight cancellation or delay, passengers should not foot the bill. This rule would, for the first time in US 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.”
Another expected announcement is the launch of a detailed airline customer service dashboard at FlightRights.gov. The online tool will hold crucial information about the type of compensation offered by specific airlines to help passengers stay informed.
Better late than never
The Biden Administration’s move to introduce new passenger rights laws comes after several instances of crippling airline delays and flight cancelations, causing immeasurable inconvenience to thousands of passengers. One recent example is Southwest Airlines’ debacle last year around Christmas that resulted in nearly 3,000 flights canceled in a single day.
While the carrier did give 25,000 frequent flyer points (worth around $300) to everyone affected, the compensation isn’t nearly enough compared to what passengers in Europe are entitled to in such scenarios. The points didn’t get Southwest entirely off the hook. The carrier was called to testify before a Senate committee in February.
US aviation also saw similar delays in the summer of 2022, after which Buttigieg appealed to some major airlines to ensure their systems could maintain schedules. The Secretary also vowed to make public the details about guaranteed compensation of all airlines, which led to all major airlines revising their policies just before or soon after the charts were published.
Amidst all this, US passengers are left on the receiving end of unreliable air transport practices. Therefore, the Biden administration’s plans to develop EU261-style rules is a welcome and much-needed step. All that remains to be seen now is if the upcoming guidelines do right by passenger’s interests. Thankfully, the wait isn’t very long.
What do you expect from today’s announcement by POTUS and Secretary Buttigieg? Please, let us know your thoughts in the comments.