The U.S. approach to controlling airlines and ensuring passengers receive proper service needs improvement, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Monday.
“We’re going to upgrade a lot of the regulations for airlines, and when those are fixed, the whole system will work better. Passengers will certainly be better off,” Buttigej told Reuters. “(Airlines) have a responsibility to take care of passengers and we are responsible for accountability.”
Last week, the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) proposed rules to strengthen passenger protections by requiring airlines to provide coupons that don’t expire when passengers can’t fly for some reason related to pandemic.
Buttige said the regulation could be the biggest expansion of passenger protections in years.
He also plans to finalize a new regulation proposed in July 2021 requiring airline passengers to be compensated for baggage that was received with a significant delay, as well as for services that did not work, such as the ability to connect to Wi-Fi online during flights.
Buttige urged the airlines to proceed with a more realistic design of their flight schedule, but also to strengthen their staffing to improve the services they offer. He rejected the objections of the airline companies, according to which the problems are caused by the understaffing of the air traffic services.
“I think this summer has really reminded us why passengers expect our ministry to support them,” the minister said of the airlines.
Buttige pointed out that the US government has completed 10 investigations into the airlines and is pushing for new policies. The proposal, made last week, would codify the framework for an airline’s failure to provide compensation when a flight is canceled or significantly altered to constitute an abusive treatment of passengers.
“We’re cracking down on abusive and deceptive practices,” Buttige said. The trade association Airlines for America recently pointed out that U.S. airlines cut their summer flight schedule by 16 percent by adjusting their staffing models. , in order to address the needs for the time required regarding the recruitment and training of new staff.
Source: RES-MPE
Source: Capital
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