When your flight doesn’t work out as planned and you’re stuck in an airport without accommodations, food or a clear understanding of when your flight will leave, you can feel helpless. Enter the “passenger bill of rights” currently under discussion in the Senate, as reported by CBS News, that may give relief for some of the common issues flyers face, like getting bumped from an oversold flight, having a flight be canceled, or waiting for more than four hours for a delayed flight. If that happens, the bill proposes that the passenger receive an automatic $1,350.
This December, thousands of passengers were stranded when Southwest Airlines' online systems failed. According to CBS News, Southwest lost $800 million in the fiasco and is funneling $1 billion into upgrades to avoid similar disasters for the airline.
The legislation under discussion also proposes limits for baggage fees and pricing for seating. It also stops airlines from charging too much for passengers changing or canceling reservations. Families will cheer to hear that the legislation would prohibit airlines from charging families to be seated with their minor children.
Some worry that the policies outlined in the passenger bill of rights would decrease competition and lead to higher ticket prices. Those include the group Airlines for America, which represents most of the carriers in the U.S. “Government-controlled pricing, establishing a private right of action and dictating private sector contracts...would decrease competition and inevitably lead to higher ticket prices and reduced services to small and rural communities,” reads a statement on the group’s website. The group points to the cost of jet fuel—83 percent more costly in 2022 than in 2019—as a driver of ticket prices while reporting that domestic airfare was 55 percent less expensive in 2021 than it was in 1979.
A similar bill of rights is already in place in Europe.
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