The Transportation Department said airlines will be required to provide automatic cash refunds within a few days for canceled flights and “significant” delays.
Yeah, the weather note is huge. Historically, airlines would just cite “weather” because there was a single cloud in the sky halfway to the destination. Because if a cancellation was weather related, they didn’t have to pay out.
I basically see this as the government going “look, we tried to be nice and give you some leeway. But you abused that by citing weather for every single cancellation. So now you’re on a tight leash and can’t even cite it when it’s valid.”
This might cause airlines to push pilots to fly anyway when the weather is outright dangerous to fly. I’m waiting for the first news article about an airplane that took off straight into a thunderstorm, got caught in a down draft and crashed, killing everyone.
Don’t underestimate the inventive ways companies can cheat to save money
The complete rules are here: https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/refundsfinalruleapril2024
The meat of it is the table on pages 9-14 and mostly comprehensible.
Worth noting:
Yeah, the weather note is huge. Historically, airlines would just cite “weather” because there was a single cloud in the sky halfway to the destination. Because if a cancellation was weather related, they didn’t have to pay out.
I basically see this as the government going “look, we tried to be nice and give you some leeway. But you abused that by citing weather for every single cancellation. So now you’re on a tight leash and can’t even cite it when it’s valid.”
Oh man this is that high fucking quality type of discussion I’m here for, direct link, exact quote , clearly separated but very based opinion
Have an upvote king
Yes but other side of that coin:
This might cause airlines to push pilots to fly anyway when the weather is outright dangerous to fly. I’m waiting for the first news article about an airplane that took off straight into a thunderstorm, got caught in a down draft and crashed, killing everyone.
Don’t underestimate the inventive ways companies can cheat to save money