Airline executives pop open champagne as Trump officially ditches plans to compensate passengers for flight delays

Donald Trump insists that all he wants to do is improve the lives of regular Americans. But, curiously, every single one of his actions in office seems intended to stomp as hard as he can on regular folk while enriching himself and his ghoulish exec-class friends. Funny that!

Now, in his latest attack on your wallet, Trump has formally and conclusively canceled a Biden-era scheme that would have forced airlines to compensate passengers for disrupted flights. Compensation would have begun at $200 and increased to $775 for delays of nine hours or more.

The plan was intended to match European consumer protection laws, which say that if a flight is delayed, canceled, overbooked, or you miss a connection that’s not your fault, you’re entitled to compensation.

Europeans can claim up to $700 for delays and get a full refund for flight cancellations. In addition, airlines there have a “right to care” for passengers, meaning they must provide meals, refreshments, and even hotel rooms in case of overnight delays.

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You were set to enjoy those rights too, until the Trump Transportation Department bowed to intense corporate lobbying and snatched them away, formalizing the withdrawal of the proposal in this month’s Federal Register. As a Department of Transportation spokesperson explained:

“These actions are part of our broader effort to ensure the traveling public is treated fairly while also recognizing how overly burdensome regulations will raise ticket prices for the traveling public and compromise safety for the sake of efficiency.”

Or, to put it another way, airlines having to pay compensation to you for their mistakes would cost them money, money that they would rather pay as a bonus to their executives so they can refit their swimming pools and home saunas.

Corporate interesters triumph

The obvious counterargument is that if airlines must pay compensation for delayed flights, they’ll work harder to ensure punctuality and prioritize passenger happiness. That’s pretty much how it works in Europe, with airlines bending over backwards for their customers, as a substantially delayed flight results in individual claims from each passenger on it.

So, the next time you’re sitting in a departure lounge waiting for your gate to be called, glance up at the board and your heart sinks as you see “CANCELLED – CONTACT AIRLINE” next to your flight and realize you’re in for a day of misery, remember that Donald J. Trump is the man stopping you from getting compensation.

If he’d allowed this rule through, you would be entitled to your ticket cost back, a hefty payout, and a hotel room if you needed to wait overnight. Now you don’t get that, so I guess it’s time to lie down on the floor like an animal, use your jacket as a pillow, and get a truly miserable few hours’ sleep as a janitor mops the floor next to your head.