US air carriers to pay for delay costs 

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer

#USA, May 15, 2023 – US President Joe Biden is attempting to put protections in place for travelers by making airlines pay for accommodation and food costs incurred because of flight delays. Biden made the revelation during a press briefing on Monday May 8th, as he lobbied for airline accountability.

The president revealed that his team is drafting a new law to be proposed this year that would mandate not only refund costs for tickets (as the current law does), but cash spent on meals, hotels, taxis, ride shares, rebooking fees, and cash, miles, and/or travel vouchers whenever airlines are the ones to blame for the cancellation or delay.

The Government has also created a new website called FlightsRight.gov, where residents can check their actual compensation against the compensation airlines are mandated to give them.

In addition to that, hidden airport fees for US residents will be a thing of the past with another new rule Biden says.

“The Department of Transportation proposed a rule that will be finalized this year. If finalized as proposed, it would require airlines to show you the full ticket price upfront before you purchase it, including fees for baggage, for Internet, for changing your seat,” he explained.

Some major airlines are already covering the costs for delays but with the new law, all of them would be court mandated to do so and it could cost them some big bucks. In the 2022/23 winter season, thousands of flights were delayed owing to massive winter storms.

Over six thousand in November during thanksgiving and over seven thousand again in February; some airlines like Spirit were affected particularly badly, with nearly all flights grounded; the President described it as unacceptable.

“Last holiday season, travelers were stranded for days and had to scramble to find other ways to reach their destinations. Many missed family gatherings, spent Christmas at an airport, waited countless hours in line or on the phone, because there weren’t enough pilots, there weren’t enough personnel. That’s unacceptable.”

The US Travel Association says the onus is not just on them and is warning that Government underfunding, poor investment in technology and understaffing at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are going to cause major issues this summer. They are requesting an 8.5 billion dollar injection into the industry to fix staffing and technology issues in time for the record travel season.