Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Trump administration said Thursday it is abandoning a Biden-era plan that sought to require airlines to compensate stranded passengers with cash, lodging and meals for flight cancellations or changes caused by a carrier.
The proposed rule would have aligned U.S. policy more closely with European airline consumer protections. It was proposed last December in the final weeks of then-President Joe Biden’s administration, leaving its fate in the hands of his Republican successor.
In a document posted Thursday, President Donald Trump’s Transportation Department said its plan to scrap the proposed rule is “consistent with Department and administration priorities.” Trump has sought to significantly roll back or modify federal regulations that his administration deems are wasteful or burdensome.
Industry trade group Airlines for America, which represents carriers including United, Delta and Southwest Airlines, welcomed the move by the Trump administration.
“We are encouraged by this Department of Transportation reviewing unnecessary and burdensome regulations that exceed its authority and don’t solve issues important to our customers,” the group said Thursday in a statement.
Airlines already offer some level of customer service when they cause flight cancellations or severe delays, but passengers usually have to ask for help at the airport, and airline promises don’t carry the weight of federal rules.
But the proposed rule sought compensation starting at $200 when a flight is canceled or significantly delayed because of a mechanical problem with the plane or an airline computer outage. Compensation as high as $775 was proposed for delays of nine hours or more.
Carriers fiercely opposed it. In a public comment submitted this summer, Spirit Airlines said the rule threatened to increase operating costs for airlines and drive up ticket prices for passengers.
The budget carrier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week for the second time in a year. Spirit quickly followed that announcement with news that it planned to suspend operations next month in about a dozen cities.
“There is no free lunch,” Spirit said. “If every time a flight has to be cancelled due to, say, an aircraft maintenance issue, airlines were required to pay each affected passenger $300 plus hotel and meals, there would be a perverse incentive to cancel flights preemptively at any hint of trouble.”
Biden’s Transportation Department was also considering free rebooking on the next available flight, including flights on rival airlines, as well as meals and lodging when passengers are stranded overnight.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
But Trump is a populist and cares about his voters! LOL
Good move.
It would have just raised ticket prices.
Now let’s modernize the air traffic system to streamline routes.
Bernard, did you stop at microecon? The rule may have had an impact on price, sure. The most immediate and clear result is that it would have provided compensation for fliers due to problems beyond their control.
Of course it’s going to drive up ticket prices. It would force the airlines to be more reliable and transparent or pay the consequences.
When you sit at the airport for four hours and the airline tells you that the flight is delayed for “maintenance” every 20 minutes only for it to get cancelled when you no longer have any other option to get to your destination … when they knew full well the flight wasn’t happening the whole time … and they offer you compensation that doesn’t nearly cover your costs nor inconvenience, do you think to yourself, well, at least the ticket was cheap?
streamlining routes (a not very realistic solution) won’t do a thing to stop weather issues or to force airlines to better maintain their planes. To the extent the issue is weather, I have complete understanding as to delays and cancellations.
But if its maintenance…well, I don’t want to fly on a plane with maintenance issues. Little alarms going off on a 2 or 3 hour flight, or even a short flight, just don’t inspire confidence and relaxation.
I sat in LaGuardia for seven hours one night in May, while they told us of maintenance issues. Then they brought in a new plane, but it also had maintenance issues. So, we were told, they pulled parts from one to fix the other, and we left hours late. But gee, getting into the hotel at 1am to be up for a 7:30 conference breakfast, after a full day before of work and then sitting in an airport waiting for a flight, is just part of the thrill of business travel.
and the airline that had the issue? Republic, whose former President is now the head of the FAA, the folks charged with airline regulation and sorting out the issues….
It starts at the top…when the boss is more concerned with quarterly results than with the customer service experience of a transportation company, the rest of the chain downward knows what to do…help the boss realize bonuses. If there is anyone left at the FAA, it will be interesting to see what happens.
As always this is Trump listening to the voice of the people and not the for profit.
Wow hahaha
That was sarcasm
Greg, yes I got it. Comment of the day honestly.
When was the last time TRUMP was a passenger on a commercial airline ?
That part. Same with the train stations. Yeah, most of our national passenger rail network is garbage…because Republicans refuse to invest even a fraction of the money we spend on highways and aviation to rail transport. But the idea that Washington, D.C. Union Station is “falling apart” and “infested with crime”? What a joke! I frequent D.C. Union Station when I fly in and out of BWI. It’s a gorgeously designed Daniel Burnham neoclassical structure with beautiful marble floors, archways, and is easily navigable from the passenger perspective. Sure, the train concourse could use an update, but Amtrak already had a plan for that.
Since when does anyone in this administration take commercial planes, trains, buses, or even drive themselves? They’re projecting onto things they just don’t have any context for. They’re clueless elitists.
At least the Trump admin is also making our lives worse in every other aspect too
Congrats Maggot voters. Hopefully you get stuck on the tarmac in Florida for a few hours with no financial compensation and catch small pox from the unvaccinated kid in the seat next to you
Oh, and Maggot voters, make sure you don’t take Tylenol. Apparently it makes you even dumber than you already are. Of course there is zero science, clinical trials, or peer review, but the witch doctor your Idiot in Chief appointed said so
Now, now, now, Chuck W. RFK did promise Gold Standard science. If the numerous former CDC and private physicians are any indication, RFK and his cronies wouldn’t know what that means or recognize it if it was a snake and bit them, but it’s what will guide their decision making.
“Gold standard Science” means something different to him. Who has the, gold? We’ll set the rules to favor him.