A trio of liberal Democrat senators introduced legislation Thursday to require airlines to provide excessive cash compensation and free rebooking for hours-long flight delays. The measure is a direct push against the current administration’s successful effort to cut burdensome regulations on the airline industry.
Sens. Mark Kelly, Richard Blumenthal, and Ed Markey proposed the bill, dubbed the Flight Delay and Cancellation Compensation Act. The bill would mandate airlines pay passengers $300 for a three-hour delay and a crippling $600 for a six-hour delay.
The proposed law would also force airlines to compensate passengers for hotels, meals, and transportation resulting from any disruption, regardless of the cause. This extreme level of mandated government control would dramatically increase the cost of travel for all Americans.
This attempt at a federal takeover comes after the Department of Transportation axed a similar previous plan to provide mandatory cash compensation for flight delays. That previous proposal would have also forced airlines to pay hundreds of dollars for delays.
Airlines for America, a major trade group, praised the administration’s decision to reverse the burdensome plan. The group said they were “encouraged by this Department of Transportation reviewing unnecessary and burdensome regulations that exceed its authority.”
The Democrat senators argued the compensation would financially protect travelers. Senator Mark Kelly claimed, “Airlines have to be accountable when they cost the American people money and travelers are left stranded.”
However, Senator Blumenthal openly admitted the bill is a response to deregulation. He said the administration’s “senseless backtracking on airline passenger protections only serves the airline industry, padding their pocketbooks and leaving Americans stranded without help.”
This “commonsense legislation,” as Blumenthal called it, is clearly a push for government overreach that the industry believes is unnecessary and burdensome.