Nov. 17 (UPI) — The Trump administration on Monday ended a Biden-era policy that forced airlines to reimburse travelers for issues such as long flight delays.
The White House pulled the proposal by then-U.S. President Joe Biden from the Federal Register, arguing the move was part of President Donald Trump‘s plan to scrap perceivably wasteful federal regulations.
It required airlines to, among other things, compensate its customers with meals, hotels, transportation, or rebooking fees after significant domestic flight delays.
The department announced in September it intended to ditch the policy implemented by Biden and then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
On Monday, the Transportation Department said it would “continue 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, which would impose significant costs on airlines and potentially consumers,” it added.
On Friday, Trump Transportation officials claimed the passenger protection rule created “unnecessary regulatory burdens.”
Officials added Monday that the Transportation Department was “not convinced that a new regulatory regime that includes passenger compensation requirements would yield meaningful improvements in airline flight performance.”
But it was “just the latest example of [the Trump administration] siding with corporations and against customers,” Buttigieg, a rumored 2028 presidential candidate, stated in September on X.
The air carrier trade group Airlines for America previously praised the action.
Meanwhile, the senate’s leading consumer advocate criticized Trump’s move, saying it lets airlines “off the hook.”
“Who does this policy help aside from the CEOs at major airlines?” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said on social media. “If this is Trump’s idea of lowering costs, then we’re in a lot of hot water.”