Major US airlines are criticizing the US government’s latest plans to publicly pressure them into offering additional passenger benefits related to flight delay compensation.
1. Compensation dashboard
Early in September, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) rolled out a so-called dashboard detailing what benefits the 10 largest US airlines have committed to provide travelers when flights are interrupted. The White House said launching the dashboard pressured airlines to improve their fine print policies.
The decision to pressure airlines came after the US DOT was flooded with complaints from passengers whose flights were canceled or changed and who couldn’t get refunds, according to NBC. However, Airlines for America, the group representing major airline carriers, accused the DOT of punishing airlines instead of providing transparency to customers.
We support practical solutions that will actually improve the customer experience and strengthen operations across the National Airspace System — this latest request by the Department of Transportation is not one of those.
Airlines for America told CNN
The US DOT said that its dashboard is intended to help travelers understand airlines’ customer service commitments, which “were hard to find and really hard to interpret.”
2. Customer protection
Given the lack of comment by Airlines for America and the US DOT on the specifics of the government’s request and plans, many questions are still unanswered. Yet, according to Reuters airlines are being asked to commit with providing credits, frequent flyer points or $100 to travelers who got their flights delayed by more than three hours.
Expected to deliver a response by Monday, Airlines for America said the update “threatens to cause unnecessary, additional confusion for the traveling public regarding the range of reasons and causes for delays, which include weather and air traffic control staffing.”
The US DOT seems unlikely to bend to the airlines’ criticism, saluting the work on the dashboard which it says will bring American travelers greater transparency and better customer service plans that guarantee them more services.
“We’ll continue to have the traveling public’s back and work to increase transparency so Americans know exactly what the airlines are providing when they have a cancellation or delay,” said the US DOT.
