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US House and Senate negotiators have agreed to revise language in an aviation reform bill to ensure quick refunds for airline passengers whose flights are cancelled and who are not seeking alternative flights.
The US Transportation Department recently finalised new rules that will later this year require automatic cash refunds for cancelled flights when passengers choose not to take a new flight. A bipartisan proposal in Congress released last week said passengers must request the refunds. This raised concerns the law could undercut USDOT rule that would ensure people who bought non-refundable tickets got reimbursed for cancelled flights.
Instead, refunds would be automatic in many instances under revised language seen by Reuters. But the automatic refunds would not apply if passengers rebooked and accepted a new flight.
U.S. senators hope the revised bill will win approval before a Friday deadline to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration for five years.
An aide to Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell said the new language “reaffirms a passenger’s right to a refund in law, provides additional clarity for consumers, while maintaining strong bipartisan support needed for the legislation.”
A spokesperson for Senator Ted Cruz, the panel’s top Republican, said he and Cantwell had agreed to add a “clarifying point affirming the right of consumers to get a refund if that is their preference.” Senators Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley had proposed an amendment to make the refunds automatic and “crack down on burdensome corporate processes put in place to maximise airlines’ profits.” The new provision is similar to what Warren and Hawley had sought in their amendment.
Neither the rule nor the legislation mandates compensation for delays — as is required for some lengthy waits in the European Union. President Joe Biden had said last May that the Transportation Department would propose new rules requiring airlines to compensate passengers with cash for significant controllable flight delays or cancellations.
