That is what the President of the United States, Joe Biden, put forward on Monday your government is preparing a new regulation that will oblige airlines award additional compensation to passengers when they are responsible for delays and cancellations.

“My administration will propose a groundbreaking new rule that will force all airlines in the United States to compensate with meals, hotels, taxis, rebooking fees and cashmiles or travel vouchers when they are guilty of cancellation or delayhe said in a statement to the press.

So far there are only two major airlines, Alaska Airlines and JetBluewhich, in addition to the usual compensation, such as food or hotel vouchers, offer travel vouchers when the difference from the original departure time is more than three hours.

Only Alaska Airlines agrees to award miles in such cases, but no airline in the country guarantees cash compensation.

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“Passengers from Canada, the European Union and elsewhere are already receiving these compensations. And you know what? Do they work. According to one study, delays in the European Union dropped as airlines were forced to compensate passengers for delays,” Biden said.

The Democratic president pointed out that his administration will present this new regulation “later”.

His announcement follows the launch of a new website, flightrights.gov, that serves passengers more transparency about compensation for delays and cancellationswhich also contain information about companies that give cash, miles or traveler’s checks.

Biden stressed that the passenger “You deserve more than your ticket price is reimbursed” because your time “matters”.

“We are making progress, but we need to do more to reverse decades of concentration of corporate power and continue to lower prices and increase opportunity for families,” he said.

The Ministry of Transport pointed out in a statement that the planned regulations should ensure that passengers are better protected against economic losses that a cancellation or delay could entail. The announcements come on the eve of the start of the summer season and after winter storm Elliot last Christmas caused thousands of cancellations, particularly affecting Southwest Airlines.

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The Transportation Department recalled that “record” fines were imposed last year that helped “hundreds of thousands of people” recover “hundreds of millions of dollars” for delays or cancellations. The rules outlined could force airlines to “proactively inform” passengers about the compensation they are entitled to for changes of more than three hours on domestic flights and more than six hours on international flights.

Likewise, they may be required to provide travel vouchers that do not expire when a person is unable to travel due to covid or other infectious diseases.

“The summer season will put enormous pressure on the system and we need to continue the work. (…) We are working to make sure Americans have a better experience with our transportation system,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg added to the press.