Last December, the Biden Administration launched, “a rulemaking to protect passengers stranded by airlines canceling or significantly changing their flights.”
This announcement sought public feedback for passenger compensation on significantly delayed flights, including a tiered approach where compensation could range from $200-$300 for domestic delays from three to six hours, $375-$525 for delays six to nine hours, and $750-$775 for delays of nine hours or more.
But now the Trump Administration has submitted a filing saying it was withdrawing the plan.
Recently, a group of Democratic Senators released a letter that said, in part, “This is a common-sense proposal: when an airline’s mistake imposes unanticipated costs on families, the airline should try to remedy the situation by providing accommodations to consumers and helping cover their costs.”
Other countries, including Canada, Brazil, and the European Union, have current laws on the book requiring airlines to provide compensation to passengers for varying flight delay or disruption times.
USDOT said that it would “allow airlines to compete on the services and compensation that they provide to passengers rather than imposing new minimum requirements for these services and compensation through regulation, which would impose significant costs on airlines.”
The department also has previously made statements that it might roll back other Biden-era airline regulations, such as requiring clearly providing service fees when displaying airfares.
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