Airlines lobby DOT to remove major passenger consumer protections

Say farewell to your right to a refund, if airlines have it their way.

Several U.S. airlines filed a request with the Department of Transportation seeking to cancel major consumer protections enforced by the federal government, an action that could see passengers lose refunds, information and more.

The 93-page request by Airlines for America — the major lobbying organization for U.S. airlines — was filed quietly in May in response to a docket opened by the DOT in connection with President Donald Trump's executive order promoting deregulation through the Department of Government Efficiency. The filing was resurfaced this week by William McGee, a senior fellow for the American Economic Liberties Project, a nonpartisan but generally left-leaning nonprofit, and published by Frommers.

A4A represents Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and cargo carriers Atlas Air, FedEx and UPS.

It's unclear how many of A4A's requests will be enacted by the DOT — or whether any of them will be at all. However, the filing offers a look at how airlines view various requirements and regulations surrounding air travel, including some that the airlines consider to be "unnecessary costs and bureaucracy" and "unfair" to airlines. In some of the proposals, A4A said that airlines would effectively police themselves, treating passengers fairly without being forced to by regulators.

A key regulation A4A is seeking to repeal is the requirement that airlines issue automatic refunds for passengers when their flights are canceled or significantly delayed, which was enacted under the Biden administration. In the public comments, A4A described the rule as a "gross example of unlawful Federal overreach," arguing that airlines have already "proven their commitment to taking care of their customers when flight cancellations occur or when flights are significantly delayed."

The organization also proposed repealing a proposed rule that would require airlines to show the full cost of a flight — including things like fees and taxes — when you select your flight, rather than just at the final checkout page. A4A argued that the requirements "unjustifiably impose higher standards than those imposed on other industries."

Other rules and regulations A4A seeks to eliminate include aspects of rules surrounding how airlines handle passenger wheelchairs, guidance that would require airlines to seat families together without seat fees and requirements for certain information to appear on airport signage. The airlines also want the DOT to kill its dashboard that details what rights passengers have during delays and cancellations, along with other dashboards introduced by the Federal Aviation Administration's Reauthorization Act of 2024, which called for the agency to create dashboards comparing seat size and family seating rules.

As part of the deregulatory push, A4A asked the DOT to limit data tracking and publishing in its monthly Air Travel Consumer Report. It describes these as "reporting burdens" that can be eliminated "with little-to-no adverse impact on any potential benefit."

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"We also question whether the costs to generate this report have much benefit," the lobbying group wrote. "[H]ow many times is an ATCR even accessed?"

TPG uses the ATCR as one of its major data sources when compiling our annual Best Airlines Report, which analyzes things like airlines' on-time performance and baggage handling mishaps, along with costs, amenities and various other aspects of air travel.

Lindsay Owens, executive director of progressive economic think tank Groundwork Collaborative, said that enacting A4A's requests would allow airlines to take advantage of consumers, and be a sign that other industries could do the same.

"The airline industry has long been a pioneer in ruthless and deceptive pricing," Owens said. "Now they're seeking to self-enforce the consumer protections they have a long track record of violating."

"If key passenger protections are further rolled back, the signal gets even clearer: in the Trump Administration, polices that put corporate profits over consumer wallets are allowed to soar freely," Owens added.

While some — or all — of A4A's proposals may not become reality, the impact on air travelers could be far-reaching. McGee of the American Economic Liberties Project wrote that the organization will be filing further comments with the DOT and encouraged passengers to contact the agency as well.

A4A did not respond to TPG's request for comment by press time.

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