If you are planning to fly anywhere in the foreseeable future, be prepared to be treated even worse than you were a few years ago. The former lobbyist for “The Partnership for Open & Fair Skies,” a coalition of American Airlines, Delta Airlines, United Airlines, and some of their unions, is current U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Secretary Duffy has announced that the Department of Transportation will “roll back” the protections for flyers put in place by former President Joe Biden.
The protections were a part of the former administration’s attack on “junk fees.” Fees that all too often were large problems for working families. In recent years, as much as 15% of airline revenue has been generated from charging ancillary fees for various additional amenities, including in-flight Wi-Fi, checked bags, priority boarding, and premium seat selection. The global airline industry’s haul from these fees ballooned from $42.6 billion in 2013 to over $102 billion in 2022, according to a report from OAG Aviation.
When these services were not delivered — as an example, a passenger paid extra for a seat with more leg room, only to find the airline had changed the plane and the seat they paid for did not have the additional room — getting refunds was almost impossible. Those overcharges and failures did not cause the more significant trouble that came from delayed or canceled flights.
That issue also isn’t a small one. A recent study AirHelp, an organization that helps customers fight for compensation for canceled flights, found that a total of 1 billion passengers took off from U.S. airports, with almost 1 in 4 experiencing a flight delay or cancellation. More than 1,500 flights are canceled on an average day.
Under the former and now current rules, it was better economically for an airline to cancel a flight than to fly one that was less than full. If there were no financial consequences for canceling the flight, why wouldn’t an airline cancel? The same was true for delays: if an airline had to pay overtime or retain more workers to ensure a plane left on time, the extra cost ate into the company’s profits. None of the proposed regulations required airlines to compensate passengers for delays or cancellations outside the airline’s control. The compensation was also modest at best.
The regulations would have mandated that carriers provide automatic full cash refunds when flights were canceled, significantly delayed, or if the additional services purchased were not delivered.
It had been commonplace for airlines to issue a travel credit or voucher by default instead of a cash refund, and passengers often complained about having to jump through hoops on the airline’s website or app, or spend lengthy sessions waiting on the phone. Under the proposed regulations, DOT would have required airlines and ticket agents to tell consumers upfront what fees they charge for checked bags, a carry-on bag, for changing a reservation, or canceling a reservation — not after they’ve bought their ticket, making it nearly impossible to compare options when shopping for a flight.
The former administration was also considering a ban on “family seating junk fees,” guaranteeing that parents can sit with their children for no extra charge.
Tomasz Pawliszyn, CEO of AirHelp, said airlines are the big winners, while American consumers are the big losers — as U.S. policy lags behind regions like Europe, where airlines are held financially accountable for flight disruptions and passenger protections are more robust. In European Union countries, where passengers can claim compensation for both delays and cancellations, there is a clear financial incentive for airlines not to cancel flights at the last minute. As a result, the U.S. has more flight cancellations and long delays than Europe.
How did the airlines win? The old-fashioned way — they invested in political campaigns. Airlines for America — which represents the carriers Alaska, American, Atlas Air, Delta, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest, and United — spent roughly $5.7 million on campaign donations in 2024. The largest amounts went to Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), both members of the U.S. Senate Committee for Commerce & Transportation. On April 2, the DOT quietly opened a docket seeking comments through May 5 on “Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementation of the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Agenda.” In response, the airline lobby filed a 93-page comment remarkable in its partisan tone and signed by the CEOs of seven major U.S. airlines. The document referred to “Biden/Buttigieg” 38 times — often modified with adjectives such as “unlawful” or “deceitful” — while beseeching Duffy to implement “the President’s deregulatory agenda.”
Perhaps the biggest surprise isn’t that deregulation can and often does harm consumers, nor that corporations, through trade groups, invest in political campaigns; rather, it is just how low the price tag is. A mere $5.7 million will save airlines from providing hundreds of millions in refunds.
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