The president of the United States, Joe Biden, announced on 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 cancellations.
"My Administration will propose a historic new rule that will eitherbind all U.S. airlines to compensate with meals, hotels, taxis, rebooking fees and cash, miles or travel coupons when they areguilty of cancellation or delay," Obama said in a statement to reporters.
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 hotel nights – offer travel vouchers when the difference from the initial departure time exceeds three hours.
Only Alaska Airlines commits to compensating with miles in such cases, but no airline in the country guarantees cash compensation.
"The number of delays in the European Union went down when airlines were forced to compensate passengers," Joe Biden said. Photo EFE/Michael Reynolds
"Passengers from Canada, the European Union and elsewhere already receive these compensations. And you know what? They work. According to one 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 regulation "later."
Its announcement comes on top of the launch of a new website (flightrights.gov) that provides passengerswith more transparency on compensation in case of delays and cancellations, which also includes information on the companies that give cash, miles or travel vouchers.
Biden stressed that the passenger "deserves more than to see the price of his ticket compensated" because his time "matters."
"We are making progress, but we need to do more to reverse decades of corporate power concentration and continue to lower prices and increase opportunities for families," he said.
Millionaire fines in the antecedent of Southwest Airlines
The Department of Transport said in a statement that the planned regulations seek to ensure that passengers are better protected against economic losses that may result from cancellation or delay.
The announcements come on the eve of the start of the summer season and after last Christmas winter storm Elliot caused thousands of cancellations and especially affected 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 "record" fines were imposed that helped "hundreds of thousands of people" recover "hundreds of millions of dollars" for delays or suspended flights.
The new rules could force airlines to "proactively" inform passengers about the compensation to which they are entitled when there are changes of more than three hours on domestic flights, and more than six on international flights.
They may also be required to offer travel vouchers that do not expire when a person is unable to travel due to a contagious disease.
"The summer season is going to put a huge strain on the system and we need to continue the work. (...) We work to ensure Americans have a better experience with our transportation system," Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters.
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