The U.S. Department of Transportation has created a website that will include details of airline policies on delays or cancellations in order to alleviate some of the travel-related stress that has been going on in the post-COVID restrictions travel chaos.
Passengers At Frankfurt Airport During A Strike Of Security Staff
It will include an interactive, easy to use dashboard that will provide information from every airline as well as the options facing the traveler if there is a delay or cancellation that takes place “due to circumstances within the airline’s control,” according to DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
The dashboard will have information provided by the commitments made by the airlines’ customer service plans.
Buttigieg wrote in a letter to airlines: “When passengers do experience cancelations and delays, they deserve clear and transparent information on the services that your airline will provide, to address the expenses and inconveniences resulting from these disruptions…[the] level of disruption Americans have experienced this summer is unacceptable.”
Airlines have been asked by the DOT that “at minimum” the airlines provide meal vouchers for all travelers who experience a delay of 3 hours or more in addition to lodging for passengers who are trapped overnight at the airport due to “disruptions within the carrier’s control.”
There Have Been Thousands Of Flights Cancelled
This has been in resposne to airlines all around the world experiencing a surge in issues throughout the whole summer that have mainly been caused by a lack of staff on hand and air traffic control problems. In the U.S. alone, over 100,000 flights have been canceled as of August 2022, as well as nearly a million flights delayed.
As the DOT says, airlines have delayed 24% of domestic flights and canceled about 3.2% of the flights of the first six months of the year 2022. Some airlines cut back a lot of summer flights in order to try to balance out these issues, while some have even extended these cuts into the fall schedule.
Buttigeig continued: “I urge you to take this opportunity to assess your Customer Service Plan to ensure that it guarantees adequate amenities and services to help passengers with expenses and inconveniences due to delays and cancelations.”
Many Airlines Have Continued To Minimize Flight Schedules In Order To Keep Up With Issues
