Biden announces steps to hold airlines accountable

TORONTO

US President Joe Biden announced additional measures Monday to protect the rights of American air travelers and hold airlines accountable for flight delays and cancellations.

In a press briefing at the White House, Biden announced a new website where passengers can receive more transparent information about airlines’ compensation policies.

"I'm proud to announce two critical steps that my administration is taking to protect American air passengers first. We just launched a new website, flightsright.gov. It features a dashboard we created last fall to give travelers more transparency, the airlines’ compensation policies. So if it's the airline's fault, and your flight was canceled or delayed, you can check the dashboard to see how the airline should compensate you, like rebooking a flight or accommodating your hotel room and your meals. And today, we've expanded that dashboard to include airlines guaranteeing an additional compensation like cash, miles, or travel vouchers," he said.

Biden also announced additional steps to make it mandatory for all US airlines "to compensate passengers with hotels, taxis, ride shares and rebooking fees, cash miles and/or travel vouchers whenever they're the ones to blame for the cancellation or delay."

"I hope and I expect the Department of Transportation to move as quickly as it can to put this new rule in place."

"I know these things may not matter to the very wealthy, but they matter most to middle-class families and people struggling to get the cost in the first place of getting that airline. These actions are in addition to other progress we’ve been making to lower costs for American families, holding corporations accountable, and grow our economy from the bottom up and the middle out, not just the top down," Biden added.