Airline passengers in the United States will continue to lack the consumer protections enjoyed by counterparts in Europe, after the Trump administration confirmed it would not be implementing former-President Biden’s reforms to the sector.
Under proposed legislation put forward by Biden’s Transportation Department, airlines would have been obliged to issue refunds to passengers for flight cancellations and significant delays. There would have been compulsory payments of between $200 and $300 (approximately €170 to €260) for domestic delays over three hours, rising to around $775 (around €666) for longer periods of disruption.
In addition, changes to schedules involving departures or arrivals from a different airport and increases in the number of connecting flights would have led to compensation. Luggage lost for more than 12 hours and failure to provide an additional paid-for service, such as seat selection or Wi-Fi would also have resulted in compulsory refunds.
Airlines and aviation industry lobby groups had opposed those changes. Aviation for America (A4A) telling press: “A4A carriers provide automatic refunds for significant delays and cancellations if a passenger chooses not to be rebooked, and they have competitive policies regarding reimbursements for food, transportation, and lodging for cancellations and significant delays within a carrier’s control.”
Following those legal challenges and objections from aviation stakeholders, officials in Trump’s Department of Transportation (DOT) have now said the department lacks the necessary authority to put the consumer protections into action. Not only that, but they argue, competition is the best way to achieve better service for flyers.
“Airlines have strong incentives to take care of passengers during significant flight disruptions and already do so voluntarily,” the DOT filing said. Mandating compensation “would impose significant costs on airlines, and potentially consumers,” it continued. Instead, they want to “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.”
Meanwhile, those in favour of the Biden proposals argue that competition would remain intact under the new legislation, but that airlines would instead beat their rivals by focusing on improving “on-time performance” to reduce refund their obligations.
The DOT now plans to go further in reducing airlines’ obligations to consumers through plans to rewrite regulatory frameworks governing airlines and ticket agents. The plans will not only redefine what counts as a refundable flight cancellation but also reconsider rules around pricing and advertising. The Biden administration had attempted to tackle junk fees and the way airlines are allowed to show non-cumulative prices to consumers during the buying process.
