Federal government, states partner on fast-tracking help for airline passengers

(TND) — The federal government is partnering with state authorities on a new fast-track system for addressing complaints from airline passengers.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has teamed with attorneys general from 15 states, the District of Columbia and two territories in an effort to expand passenger protections.

The federal Transportation Department is responsible for addressing airline passenger issues, which it does through a complaint system and its Office of Aviation Consumer Protection.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said they have a “small, but mighty team” that tracks down refunds and settles disputes with airlines on behalf of consumers.

That office only has about 40 people.

“It has been clear that we need more resources, that we need allies, that we need a force multiplier to help us get that work done,” Buttigieg said during a Tuesday news conference at the Denver International Airport, where he announced the new effort to work with state attorneys general.

Buttigieg said state attorneys general are already getting complaints from airline passengers, but they can’t help because that’s the job of the federal agency.

He said the attorneys general want to help the folks in their states, which they do with other types of consumer complaints.

Buttigieg said they found a match for his department's needs with the resources the states could provide.

Over the last few years, with demand for air travel surging following the pandemic, Buttigieg said his people have “heard from so many passengers dealing with lost baggage, disrupted itineraries, efforts to try to get their money back when they were owed a refund. The list goes on and on.”

Under the new partnerships, states can investigate complaints they receive from airline passengers. If the state attorney general determines that the airline violated the law or if they believe that the airline is not cooperating with their investigation, they can refer those complaints to the Transportation Department through a newly established reporting process. Buttigieg said the Transportation Department will fast-track its review of potential violations.

Any enforcement of potential violations still lies with the federal department.

“There's a lot more work still to do to make sure passengers get the fairest and best flights and service possible, but this partnership is a big step forward,” Buttigieg said.

Aviation industry expert Laurie Garrow, of Georgia Tech, said Wednesday that state authorities will “triage” customer complaints, allowing federal authorities to focus on the ones that are possibly violations.

“The main impact that I would expect is that this will improve the response time if an issue does arise,” she said.

Garrow noted that Buttigieg’s announcement came before the busy summer travel season arrives.

The Transportation Department also said states that partner with it will get access to its new, modernized consumer complaint system.

Garrow said that data sharing could also pay dividends for passengers.

“You might get a much better read on where the issues actually are,” Garrow said.

The Transportation Department said this is part of its ongoing efforts to improve experiences for airline passengers.

On the heels of an “unacceptable” level of flight delays and cancellations in 2022, the Transportation Department launched an airline customer service dashboard.

All 10 major U.S. airlines now guarantee free rebooking and meals, and nine guarantee hotel accommodations when an airline issue causes a significant delay or cancellation, the department said.

Under Buttigieg, the Transportation Department said it has helped return over $3 billion in refunds and reimbursements owed to airline passengers.

Buttigieg said airline cancellations hit a 10-year low last year.

“This year is off to a good start,” he said. “We're keeping, we're seeing cancellations stay below 2%, about 1.5% last time I checked, which is well below the average rate. And we're going to keep engaging airlines to keep that up.”

Attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, D.C., Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New York, New Hampshire, North Carolina, the Northern Mariana Islands, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Wisconsin are taking part. The Transportation Department said another seven attorneys general have expressed interest.