May 8 (UPI) — The Biden administration on Monday announced a plan to set up new federal protocols that would for the first time require all commercial airlines to compensate passengers for controllable cancellations or significant delays.
The president said the new protocol will require airlines to compensate customers with meals, hotels, transportation, rebooking fees and more. The formal rule proposal is to come later this year.
President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg detailed the plans in remarks from the White House on Monday afternoon.
“You deserve to be fully compensated,” Biden said. “Your time matters. The impact on your life matters.”
The strategy would force airlines to provide cash refunds and expanded perks when stranded passengers accrue extra expenses for things like meals and hotels.
Currently, no airliner in the country is required to offer reimbursements for meals, lodging, and rebooking during flight delays caused by routine issues such as mechanical problems.
And none were offering any cash payouts or additional compensation beyond basic refunds and amenities in cases where an airline was directly at fault for a preventable delay, according to the White House.
“When an airline causes a flight cancellation or delay, passengers should not foot the bill,” Buttigieg said in a statement.
The policy change is intended to establish uniform rules among all the nation’s airlines in an effort to create fair compensation packages for passengers caught in significant delays.
Ten of the nation’s largest airlines currently offer free meals and rebooking, while nine guarantee hotel accommodations. Two airlines offer travel credits or vouchers, while only one guarantees frequent flyer miles, the administration said.
“Historically, when delays and cancellations are the airline’s fault, the law has only required airlines to refund customers the price of their flight ticket but not the cost of meals or hotels or transportation when you get left in limbo,” Biden said. “But then we challenged them to do better. And, in fact, they did.”
Airlines would also be required to pay for rebooking expenses caused by “a cancellation or significant delay,” Buttigieg said.
The imminent changes come several months after droves of Southwest passengers became stranded for days at airports nationwide during a massive winter storm that crippled travel in the middle of the holidays.
“I know these things may not matter to the very wealthy, but they matter most to middle-class families and people struggling to get the cost in the first place of getting that airline,” Biden said.
At the time, Buttigieg called the delays “unacceptable,” and since the administration has been putting increased pressure on the industry to improve pricing and customer service.
The Transportation Department first proposed the rule changes last August after a wave of complaints from travelers due to delays and cancellations throughout the summer.
Last fall, the White House also proposed transparency measures to strengthen consumer protection by requiring airlines to disclose hidden fees before customers buy tickets, which would change how fees related to baggage, cancellation, and rebooking would be applied to the regular price of a flight.
As part of the latest effort, the Transportation Department is launching “an expanded Airline Customer Service Dashboard” at FlightRights.gov, that will track which airlines offer cash compensation, travel credits, vouchers, frequent flyer miles and other amenities, the White House said.