Almost 20 years after the EU: USA introduce passenger rights

When it comes to the lack of customer service in the event of flight irregularities, some US carriers may have overstretched the curve to such an extent that the US Department of Transportation has announced that a new regulation will be introduced that will oblige airlines to bear the costs and compensate them in such cases.

In principle, the project is comparable to the European Union's Air Passenger Rights Regulation. This has been in force since 2004. The lobby association of the airlines is working intensively to persuade Brussels to relax these restrictions, even though many providers are not very precise anyway, especially when it comes to paying costs for replacement transport and/or compensation services.

In the United States, the Department of Transportation wants to oblige the airlines to pay compensation in the event of significant delays, cancellations or missed connecting flights and to cover the costs for meals, rebooking and hotel accommodation. Similar to Europe, this should only apply if the airline is to blame. For example, events of force majeure such as severe storms that make flying impossible for safety reasons should be excluded.