WASHINGTON: The US Department of Transportation will propose that the airline be asked to return the cost on the luggage listed if the bag is not sent to passengers quite quickly.
Proposal, if made the final after the process of writing a long regulation, will also require a quick refund for additional costs such as internet access if the airline fails to provide services during the flight.
A department official said the agency would issue a proposal in the next few days, and it can apply next summer.
The proposal will require a refund if the airline fails to provide a bag within 12 hours of US passenger flights that touch or within 25 hours after an international flight.
The current regulations require a refund only if the bag is lost, even though the airline must compensate for passengers for incidental costs “reasonable” released while their bags are delayed.
The government does not know how often the airline keeps the cost even when the bag is significantly delayed.
The cost-bag proposal is the first of several airline consumer regulations originating from Biden administration under the executive order that will be signed by the President, according to the Senior Transportation Department official, who speaks with anonymous requirements to discuss the proposals that have not been published.
Orders will be designed to increase competition and give consumers more strength, the official said.
Kurt Ebenhoch, Executive Director of the Fairness Travel now, an airline consumer organization, called a refund of bag fees “One consumer-friendly item on a long list that requires dot action.” He said the top priority included refunds for cancellations related to pandemics, stronger rules to let families with small children sit together without paying extra, and more transparency in flight schedules and rates.
John Breyult, a vice president with the National Consumer League, said Pete Buttigieg’s transport secretary seems to be more attention to consumer problems than Elaine Chao, who holds the job during the Trump administration.
But he said he wanted Biden administration to act faster.
“The proof will be in the pudding whether this point will make consumer protection a real priority after four years of benign, the best, and the worst active rules,” Bryyault said.
Last year, more than 100,000 consumers complained to the government about airline services.
Refunds are the biggest complaint, although most airlines claim to refuse to give refunds to consumers canceled the trip because of a pandemic.
The Ministry of Transportation is looking for a fine of $ 25.5 million against Air Canada, but has not taken action on other operators through refunds for flights canceled.
In 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, passengers paid $ 5.76 billion Aulllines in the cost of a bag that was examined, according to the Department of Transportation.
It fell to $ 2.84 billion last year, when the trip slumped due to a pandemic.
The numbers do not include costs for tote bags.
Over the years, customers can check one or two bags in almost all airlines without paying fees.
It began to change during the journey decline caused by the 2008 financial crisis.
Now, most of the US airlines other than the western cost of even for one bag, even though the costs are usually released for customers who buy high cost tickets or carry a credit card airline.
, American Airlines made $ 2 billion from the checked-bag fee over the past two years, followed by Delta Air Line and United Airlines, each around $ 1.5 billion.
Because of its smaller size, airline discounts including spirits and borders reap less money but get a higher percentage of income than costs.