Trump Cancels Biden-Era Plan to Make Airlines Pay for Delayed Flights

The One Rule That Would Have Helped Is Dead

If your flight gets delayed in America, you’re on your own.

There’s no federal law requiring airlines to pay you a single dollar, no matter how long you sit at the gate or whose fault it is. Europe has required compensation for delays since 2004.

Canada, Britain, and Brazil have similar rules. The Biden administration finally proposed something similar for the U.S. , with payments up to $775 for long delays.

On November 14, 2025, the Trump administration killed it.

The airlines lobbied hard, the new Transportation Secretary used to work for them, and now American travelers remain among the least protected flyers in the developed world.

No Law Requires Payment for Delays

Airlines in the U. S. must refund passengers for canceled flights, but are not required to compensate customers for delays. That’s the law.

If your flight is canceled outright and you don’t want to rebook, you get your money back. But delays are treated completely differently.

No large U. S. airline currently guarantees cash compensation for significant flight disruption.

You could sit at the airport for eight hours because of a maintenance problem the airline knew about, and legally, they owe you nothing.

The Biden Rule Would Have Changed That

The Biden administration proposed a tiered approach to compensation: $200 to $300 for domestic delays of at least three hours but no more than six, $375 to $525 for delays ranging from six to nine hours, and $750 to $775 for delays longer than nine hours.

The rule targeted delays caused by airlines themselves, things like crew shortages, maintenance failures, and computer outages.

It would have also required airlines to pay for delay-related expenses, like meals, transportation, and lodging. For the first time, passengers would have had real leverage.

The Trump Administration Killed It

The Transportation Department on Friday published a notice that it is officially withdrawing the proposed rule. The agency said the regulation would create unnecessary burdens on airlines.

USDOT said in abandoning the compensation plan that it would allow airlines to compete on the services and compensation that they provide to passengers rather than imposing new minimum requirements.

In other words, they’re leaving it up to the airlines to decide what you deserve. The same airlines that fought the rule in the first place.

Europe Has Paid Passengers Since 2004

In the European Union, a 2004 law guarantees airline passengers up to $700 as compensation for delays of three hours or more.

The EU’s EC261 regulation covers flights departing from any European airport and flights arriving in Europe on EU-based carriers.

Passengers are entitled to compensation of between €250 and €600 depending on the flight distance for delays of at least three hours.

Beyond cash, airlines are required to provide meals and refreshments, a hotel if your delay forces you to take a flight the following day, and transport to and from the hotel.

Compensation Rules Actually Reduce Delays

Here’s what the airline industry doesn’t want you to know.

An October study from the Association of Passenger Rights Advocates said flights under Europe’s EC261 are 70% less likely to be delayed for more than three hours compared to the US.

It added that same-day cancellations in the US are 20% more likely than in the EU. When airlines have to pay for delays, they suddenly find ways to prevent them.

The financial penalty creates an incentive that voluntary policies never will.

Most Long Delays Are the Airline’s Fault

Airlines like to blame weather and air traffic control, but the numbers tell a different story.

Airline data submitted to the Transportation Department found that over 60% of three-hour or longer domestic flight delays in 2022 and 2023 were airline-caused.

That means maintenance problems, crew scheduling failures, and software issues.

Airlines like to cite weather conditions or other issues outside their control as the causes of flight delays, but in reality, the most common root cause is the airline itself.

These are problems carriers could fix if they had a reason to.

Airlines Got $54 Billion in Taxpayer Bailouts

U. S. airlines received $54 billion in taxpayer bailouts during the COVID-19 pandemic, helping the industry recover and enjoy record travel demand.

The money was supposed to keep workers employed and the system running.

“These airlines have gotten a lot of public support to try to keep the system resilient,” former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told NPR.

“And now we’re looking to them to make sure that their operations are reliable. ” Instead, airlines used their influence to kill the compensation rule.

The New Transportation Secretary Lobbied for Airlines

In 2020, Sean Duffy was hired to lobby for The Partnership for Open and Fair Skies, a coalition representing major airlines like American, Delta, and United. Now he runs the agency that oversees them.

Unsurprisingly, the airline industry was ecstatic when Duffy was subsequently nominated for Secretary of Transportation.

“We are thrilled that President-elect Trump has chosen Congressman Duffy to lead the Department of Transportation,” Airlines for America said in a statement.

Consumer advocates have raised concerns about whose interests he’ll actually protect.

What Airlines Offer Is Voluntary

Most US airlines commit to offering hotel and meal vouchers during carrier-controlled delays and cancellations, per the Airline Customer Service Dashboard developed under the Biden Administration. But there’s a catch.

These are voluntary commitments, not legal requirements. Airlines can change their policies whenever they want.

And it’s often up to the airline to decide whether they’re actually responsible for the delay. If they blame weather or air traffic control, even when maintenance was the real problem, you get nothing.

Refunds Only Cover Cancellations

New regulations require any airline flying to, from, or within the US to provide automatic cash refunds for flights that are canceled or significantly changed for any reason.

That’s a real protection, but it only kicks in if your flight is actually canceled or if you refuse rebooking after a major change.

This entitlement is triggered only if passengers refuse rebooking or alternative compensation, such as travel vouchers. A six-hour delay that eventually takes off?

Not covered. You sit, you wait, you get nothing.

Americans Are Now the Least Protected Flyers

The European Union, Canada, Brazil and Britain all have airline delay compensation rules. America doesn’t.

The decision to scrap federal airline delay compensation keeps the United States out of alignment with Europe and other markets where airline delay compensation is a legal right, not a negotiation. The one proposal that would have brought the U.S. in line with the rest of the world is gone.

If your flight gets delayed tomorrow, you’re still on your own, and the airlines that took your tax dollars are just fine with that.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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