Biden Wants American Airliners to Become Consumer Friendly

U.S. President Biden had enough. He wants new regulations to compensate air passengers for delayed and cancelled flights.

Airline passengers in the European Union enjoyed far more consumer rights than passengers in the United States.

Interestingly, studies show that countries in Europe have fewer flight delays.

Suppose your flight is within the EU and operated by an EU or a non-EU airline. Suppose your flight arrives in the EU from outside the EU and is operated by an EU airline. You are covered if your flight departs from the EU to a non-EU country operated by an EU or a non-EU airline.

US President Biden wants to put the burden of fair compensation in case of delays and flight cancellations by US carriers into law.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced that this process for new rules has begun, requiring airlines to fairly compensate passengers for the inconvenience of canceled and delayed flights. These compensations may include the cost of rebooking the flight as well as costs to book a hotel should the passengers need to stay overnight as well as meals throughout the delay.

This winter, airlines suffered from numerous flight disruptions, so before the busy summer season begins, the US presidential administration wants policies to protect passengers.

This past winter, Southwest Airlines stood out as the epitome of flight cancellations when over 16,000 flights were canceled within a week during the holidays because of a winter storm.

Granted, Mother Nature cannot be controlled, but the response to her unpredictability must be. Add to that the fact that, in this case, the airline’s software was severely outdated and could not handle rescheduling the crew, which made literally for the perfect storm. The result: airline passengers were stranded for days having to pay for unanticipated costs out of their own pockets.

Despite the fact that Southwest Airlines CEO has “sincerely and humbly” apologized, the US Transportation Department still has the airline under investigation.

“This is just about being fair,” said President Biden.

Eileen Ogintz, author of The Kid’s Guide to Washington, said:

“Travel with kids is stressful enough without the extra expense and anxiety of lengthy delays. It’s terrific that President Biden wants the airlines to pay passengers for lengthy delays. But let’s hope that won’t translate to higher fares.”

Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights Not So Righteous

Right now, the government requires airlines to return the cost of the ticket, which usually means a credit in mileage points. According to the President, the current federal requirement to pay back the flight ticket cost could amount to only US$10 or US$20, not the hundreds of dollars that the passenger should be entitled to, said Buttigieg. This is simply insufficient.

Presently, there is not one airline that offers cash as compensation for a delayed or canceled flight. The administration firmly believes that passengers should not have to fight for something they should be entitled to.

The US Department of Transportation has an online Airline Customer Service Dashboard that tracks every airline’s refund and compensation policies for delayed and cancelled flights.

These new rules, once instituted, will be updated on that website.