As the U.S. gears up for a holiday weekend that is expected to bring more flight delays, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) is urging the Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to fine airlines. He’s also calling on airlines to refund passengers.
If Independence Day weekend looks anything like Memorial Day weekend, thousands of flights across the U.S. will be canceled. Earlier this month, major airlines had already pre-emptively canceled more than 20,000 flights through Labor Day.
AAA predicted that 3.55 million Americans would be catching flights over the upcoming holiday weekend. Lingering staffing issues that have plagued airlines since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic have contributed to flight cancellations in recent months as demand for air travel increases.
Even as the price of airline tickets has climbed 38%, per data provided by Sanders, delays have increased by 50% and cancellations are up by 18% compared to pre-pandemic numbers.
“So far this year, one out of every five flights in the U.S. were delayed,” said the senator’s office.
As of Thursday, Flight Aware reported 2,405 delays for flights within, into or out of the U.S., as well as 419 cancellations. More were reported outside the country.
Sanders believes that consumers should not have to bear the brunt of these issues. He proposed in a letter to Buttigieg that airlines be fined $55,000 per passenger for every canceled flight and that passengers get a refund for every hour their flight is delayed.
“The American people are sick of airlines ripping them off, canceling flights at the last minute and delaying flights for hours on end,” he said.
According to Sanders, U.S. taxpayers came to the rescue and gave $54 billion to the airline industry when it screeched to a halt amid the pandemic, when travel restrictions were put in place to slow the spread of the virus. He said that the “top eight airlines alone received nearly $50 billion in taxpayer assistance from the federal government.”
In light of this investment from the American people, Sanders said that passengers and crew members should be treated with respect rather than contempt.
In addition to customers dealing with delayed for canceled flights, crew members such as pilots, flight attendants, and airline workers have recently picketed over their treatment, said Sanders. There have been allegations from the American Airlines pilots’ union that airlines are intentionally scheduling flights they cannot staff.
Steps laid out by Sanders in his letter to Buttigieg include: requiring airlines to promptly refund passengers for flights that have been delayed over an hour, imposing fines on airlines for flights that are delayed more than two hours; and imposing fines on airlines for scheduling flights that they are unable to properly staff.
“If you’ve been waiting and saving for a vacation, you’re counting on getting the service you paid for,” Buttigieg said Thursday afternoon. “We are engaging the airlines every day on the steps they must take to deliver this summer travel season.”
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
Related
Related
Related
