Travel Tips

New DOT Protections & Fees for Airline Passengers

Adriana Padilla

Plane landing - New DOT RulesThe airlines may be hitting passengers with fees, but a new proposal from the Department of Transportation announced on Wednesday is fighting back.

Especially popular among the new requirements is a rule requiring the airlines to reimburse passengers for lost or late luggage.

Under the new proposal, if your luggage is not waiting on the carousel, the airline should pay.

Under the new requirements, airlines would also have to be more forthcoming with the prices of airfare. Baggage fees would have to be prominently displayed and the airlines would not be able to increase the price of a ticket after it has been purchased.

For example, the proposal would force domestic airlines to refund luggage charges if a passenger’s bag is lost or delayed. In fact, any services being charged for that are considered substandard will result in a reimbursement to passengers.

Plane flying overhead - new DOT rulesUnder the rule, passengers would be allowed to make and cancel reservations without penalty within 24 hours.

The DOT is allowing carriers to decide between reimbursing passengers who cancel or having a system where customers are allowed to make and hold reservations for 24 hours without payment.

But the most contentious requirement under the new proposal is one that would give a larger reimbursement to passengers who have been involuntarily bumped from their flights.

Currently, the airlines pay a bumped passenger $400 if they are forced off their flight. The airlines then have two hours to rebook a domestic flight and four hours to rebook an international flight. If the passenger is not found a flight after those time limits, the fee increases to $800.

Learn more: Passenger Bill of Rights Arrives: The Early Show Analysis

The DOT proposal would increase those limits to $650 for bumped passengers, and $1,300 for a passenger bumped and not found a flight in the allotted time.

Plane landing - New DOT RulesThe proposal is just the latest in a series of new rules imposed upon the airlines by the Obama administration. In March of this year, the DOT passed a controversial new regulation that put a time limit to tarmac delays.

Under the regulation, airlines operating domestic flights are required to allow passengers to get off the plane if the flight has been delayed for three hours. If the airline exceeds the three-hour limit, it will be fined $27,500 per passenger.

Today’s proposal expands on this tarmac delay rule by requiring foreign airlines that operate in U.S. airports to have contingency plans for tarmac delays that are published on their Web sites.

The proposal also expands the tarmac delay rule to U.S. carriers flying out of small and non-hub airports.

The DOT rule proposals now enter a 180-day public hearing process, which includes a 60-day public comment period. If passed, the rules will go into effect this fall.

By Adriana Padilla for PeterGreenberg.com.

Related Links: ABC News, Associated Press, CNN

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