The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has announced that the Trump administration has officially withdrawn a Biden-era proposal that would have required airlines to pay cash compensation to passengers for airline-caused flight delays. The plan called for payments of $200–$300 for domestic delays longer than three hours and up to $775 for even longer delays.
USDOT stated that the proposal would create “unnecessary regulatory burdens,” and confirmed it will not move forward. Meanwhile, 18 Democratic senators had urged the administration to keep the compensation plan. While U.S. airlines are required to provide refunds for cancellations, they are not obligated to compensate passengers for delays, unlike the European Union, Canada, Brazil, and the United Kingdom, which have established rules on the matter.
The department also revealed that it is considering rolling back some fare-transparency rules introduced during the Biden administration and is working on new regulations to better define what constitutes a flight cancellation. Airlines welcomed the withdrawal of the compensation plan.
