United States – U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, on Thursday, exhorted the major U.S. passenger airlines to work towards improving the travel privileges which active-duty military members and family have.
Calls for Enhanced Support
This department expects to start posting relevant comparisons regarding travel benefits that the airlines guarantee for servicemen and their families on a customer service dashboard in May, as reported by Reuters.
Initiative to Enhance Travel Benefits
USDOT is slated to give airlines that promise refunds to military personnel and their families who cancel flights due to military directives and free baggage check-ins.
A good number of air carriers accord military men additional free bags and other benefits like priority boarding or discounted airfare. Approximately 1.3 million soldiers of the U.S. military and more than 800,000 reservists are currently active.
Addressing Inconsistencies in Benefits
Buttigieg said, “Benefits are not consistently detailed in carriers’ public-facing Customer Service Plans, resulting in many service members being unaware of them” and added that “airlines’ travel benefits often do not fully address the needs of service members who may need to cancel or change personal travel plans due to military directives.”
Industry Response and Commitment
Big carriers like American Airlines (AAL.O), Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), and United Airlines (UAL.O), when reached for comments, were directed to Airlines for America, which launched a statement where they praised military officers and said that “carriers are proud to offer a variety of travel benefits and are transparent about these benefits on their websites.”
Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) is proud to say that it is “committed to making the military travel experience as easy as possible,” including streamlining the process as much as possible.
Government Oversight and Regulation
The Transportation Department recently has revealed a federal dashboard dedicated to airlines’ promises not to charge families for the privilege of sitting together. By September 2022, most major airlines had agreed to refund passengers’ costs due to delays that were under their control after the USDOT posted a chart showing how well their protection of customers compared.
In May 2023, President Joe Biden declared that the USDOT was drafting new regulations to require airlines to refund passengers in case of delayed or canceled flights when the carriers themselves caused the situation, as reported by Reuters.
USDOT has not yet presented an official project revealing the sum the airlines will need to pay passengers with significant delays. Yet, in 2022, it asked the carriers whether they would be okay with an agreement of 100 for delays of at least three hours resulting from airline companies.