Are passengers guaranteed compensation for FAA outage?
Federal leaders say a full refund is due to every person whose flight is canceled.
RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - As more than 8,500 flights have been delayed and another 1,200 canceled due to the FAA outage, many travelers’ plans have been wrecked for the day.
“Nobody expected that this was going to happen, and as widespread as it was, there weren’t any plans not affected by this in the U.S. So, if you had a flight booked during that time period, it didn’t go anywhere,” AAA Spokesperson Morgan Dean said.
Federal leaders say a full refund is due to every person whose flight is canceled.
No federal laws require airlines to provide money or other compensation to passengers when their flights have only been delayed.
“We’re holding airlines accountable to their responsibilities. When there’s an issue on the government side of the house when there’s an issue with FAA, we’re going to own it, we’re going to understand it, and we’re going to make it very clear what’s needed, and go after that plan,” U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said.
Several airlines offer customers various waivers for rebooking flights, but what they decide to provide their passengers depends on their individual policies.
United Airlines is activating a travel waiver for any customer needing to change their plans, including a refund for customers who no longer want to travel.
Delta customers with flights scheduled for Wednesday can rebook their flights for travel no later than Jan.13 at no additional charge.
If customers cannot travel by Friday, they may cancel their flights for flight credit that can be used for up to a year, but they would then be responsible for any fare differences.
Southwest also announced they’re rebooking customers on the next available flight with no additional cost. Those customers also have the option to rebook their trip within 14 days of the original travel dates without paying any extra fees.
Dean says it’s simple. There’s not much passengers can do right now except contact their airline and be patient.
“You have to sit back and understand a lot of stuff is outside of your control, and it is what it is, but the better you plan ahead of time, the better it’s likely to go to get to that situation,” Dean said.
The U.S. Department of Transportation advises that if a passenger’s flight is excessively delayed or canceled, customers should ask airline staff if the carrier will pay for food or hotel expenses, but neither is guaranteed.
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