The Department of Transportation Has Issued Specific Clarifications of Its New Passenger Protection Rules

On April 20, the Department of Transportation announced new passenger protection rules -- requiring that airlines include all government fees and taxes in their advertised prices, reimbursing passengers for baggage fees if their luggage is lost, increasing the compensation to passengers who have been involuntarily bumped from overbooked flights, extending the ban on tarmac delays to international flights -- and we reported on those new general rules in this blog. The department has now issued additional specifics of those rules, which you will want to know.

On the compensation for being "bumped" from a flight, such passengers will now receive double the cost of their tickets up to $650 if they have been delayed in reaching their destination by up to two hours. If they are delayed for more than two hours, they will receive four times the value of their tickets up to $1,300. That's double the amount of compensation that used to be required, which should considerably ease the pain of being bumped.

As for those tarmac delays, domestic airlines are subject to heavy fines if they keep passengers stranded in an airplane on the tarmac for more than three hours. The same penalties are now being applied to international airlines, but the amount of time that can be spent on the tarmac without penalty has been raised to four hours for international flights. Although the airlines threatened all sorts of dire consequences several months ago when the first tarmac-delay penalties were announced, no such calamities have been encountered. And the number of lengthy tarmac strandings has been reduced by nearly 80%, says the Department.

Finally, in addition to permitting passengers to cancel an air reservation without penalty within 24 hours after making the reservation (for a trip scheduled at least a week in advance), the Department has now prohibited the airlines from raising the price of an air ticket after the passenger has purchased it (unless the passenger has specifically agreed to be liable for such increases).

All in all, this is a time of great satisfaction for air travelers.

Source: http://www.frommers.com/blog/?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a3ec3ac40-db8a-4d10-a884-acf9ccad0879Post%3a94a2dc73-31e0-451c-b225-bfdc9937928c

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