People who have bought airline tickets should get “significant relief” when flights are canceled or significantly delayed, New Hampshire’s attorney general is arguing as part of a national push to strengthen consumer protection in this area.
“Airlines should take notice, and whether it is oversold flights or operational disruptions, they should no longer be able to simply shift their problems onto their passengers,” said Attorney General John Formella in a prepared statement.
Formella joined a bipartisan group of 34 attorneys general in urging the U.S. Department of Transportation to take certain actions, including imposing “significant fines” for cancellations and extended delays that are not weather-related or otherwise
They also urged the department to “require airlines to advertise and sell only flights that they have adequate personnel to fly and support, and perform regular audits of airlines to ensure compliance and impose fines on airlines that do not comply.”
They also want to force airlines to give “partial refunds” for cancellations that result in a rescheduled flight, and to stop airlines from “canceling flights while upselling consumers more expensive alternative flights to the same destinations.”
Flight cancellations increased sharply in 2022 as travelers returned to the sky after pandemic-era shutdowns. For example, Reuters reported that in the first half of the year more than 128,000 flights were canceled in the U.S., an 11% increase from the same period in 2019, before COVID-19 arrived.
Airlines have cited shortages of pilots and support personnel and disruptions in airport staffing, including air traffic control, due to the pandemic.
The attorneys general also say the U.S. Department of Transportation “should require that credits and vouchers for future travel that are provided by airlines in the event of cancellation can be used easily without inappropriate limitations.”
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These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org
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