Joe Biden pushes for legislation that airlines must pay passengers who suffer delays

2023-05-08 23:09:53

The president’s proposal will force all airlines in the United States to compensate users when they are responsible for cancellations or delays.

The president of United States, Joe Bidenannounced this Monday that his Government is preparing a new regulation that will force airlines to grant extra compensation to passengers when they are responsible for delays and cancellationss.

“My Administration will propose a new landmark rule that owill force all airlines in the United States to compensate con meals, hotels, taxis, rebooking fees and cash, miles or coupons traveling when sare guilty of the cancellation or delay,” the president said in a statement to the press.

So far there are only two major airlines, Alaska Airlines and JetBlue, which in addition to the usual compensations -such as vouchers for food or a hotel night- offer travel vouchers when the difference with respect to the initial departure time exceeds three hours.

Only Alaska Airlines agrees to award miles in such cases, but no airline in the country guarantees cash compensation.

“The number of delays in the European Union dropped when airlines were forced to compensate passengers,” said Joe Biden. Photo EFE/Michael Reynolds

“The passengers from canada, the European Union and other places already receive these compensations. And you know what? Do they work. According to a study, the number of delays in the European Union decreased when airlines were forced to compensate passengers for delays,” Biden argued.

The Democratic president pointed out that his government will present this new regulations “later“.

Your announcement is added to the launch of a new website (flightrights.gov) that provides passengers more transparency about compensation in case of delays and cancellations, which also includes information about the companies that give cash, miles or travel vouchers.

Biden stressed that the passenger “deserves something more than to see the price of his ticket compensated” because your time “matters”.

“We are making progress, but we have to do more to reverse decades of concentration of corporate power and continue lowering prices and increasing opportunities for families,” he said.

Millionaire fines in the background of Southwest Airlines

The Department of Transportation pointed out in a statement that the planned regulations seek to guarantee that passengers are better protected against economic losses that may lead to a cancellation or delay.

The announcements come on the eve of the start of the summer season and after last Christmas the winter storm Elliot will cause thousands of cancellations and will especially affect the airline Southwest Airlines.

The new regulations will seek to give greater protection to passengers. Photo: Samuel Corum/Bloomberg.

The Department of Transportation recalled that last year imposed “record” fines that helped “hundreds of thousands of people” recover “hundreds of millions of dollars” for delayed or suspended flights.

The new regulations could force airlines to inform passengers “proactively” about the compensation to which they are entitled when there are changes of more than three hours in domestic flights, and more than six in the international.

They may also be required to offer travel vouchers that do not expire when a person cannot travel due to a contagious disease.

“The summer season is going to put enormous pressure on the system and we need to continue the work. (…) We work to ensure that Americans have a better experience with our transportation system,” Secretary Pete Buttigieg added to the press.

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