July 24, 2024
Sleeping on the airport floor. Canceled or delayed flights. Lost luggage.
The Department of Transportation is making sure someone will answer for the chaos we’ve been seeing at airports nationwide since that technical outage last week. You know the one that has impacted about half a million passengers and cause thousands of flight cancelations and delays?
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced yesterday that DOT has opened an investigation into Delta airlines. Of course – these technical meltdowns which then snowballed even after the software was restored were happening at other airlines initially but delta in particular saw the bulk of the problems and announced they wouldn’t be fully recovered until tomorrow. But they also said it could still take several more days to get all the affected passengers to their final destinations.
In a social media post the Transportation Secretary said the investigation is to “ensure the airline is following the law and taking care of its passengers during continued widespread disruptions. All airline passengers have the right to be treated fairly, and I will make sure that right is upheld.”
Delta’s CEO issued a response today saying they are cooperating with the DOT investigation and “we remain committed to taking care of those whose flights may still be impacted, with meals, hotel accommodations and ground transportation offered through vouchers and reimbursements. We’re also providing impacted customers with delta SkyMiles and travel vouchers as a further gesture of apology.”
So what are your rights? Well Delta’s CEO wasn’t specific about how the reimbursements, vouchers or miles would be distributed and that’s not surprising because the passenger rights the DOT finalized earlier this year that specifically outlines what you’re entitled to and I told you all about in this video have not yet taken effect. But that doesn’t mean you have no rights.
Under the current rules, you are entitled to a refund if the airline cancelled your flight regardless of the reason and you choose not to travel with them. You are also entitled to a refund if the airline made a “significant change or significantly delays your flight” and you choose not to travel with them. The new passenger rights rules define “significant” as more than three hours – but that rule hasn’t taken effect yet. As of now you are also entitled to a refund of your baggage fees if your bag is declared officially lost by the airline.
If you are one of the half a million passengers impacted by this travel mess the department of transportation says you should first try to work it out with the airline, but if you are not getting anywhere you can file a complaint with the dot online.
Read more about the current refund rules here.
Read more about the current airline cancellation commitments here.
Fill out an airline complaint form with DOT here.
More information about the future refund rules here.
