The United States Government announced this past Tuesday an agreement with the attorneys general of 18 states and territories that will expedite investigations against airline companies to increase the protection of users.
Significantly expands
The United States Department of Transportation said in a statement that the agreement “significantly expands” the federal government’s enforcement capacity by prioritizing investigations of cases that reveal unfair or deceptive practices by airlines.
On March 1, the US Federal Government’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics announced that it had been forced to delay the publication of its 2023 report on airline passenger complaints “due to the consistently high volume of complaints received against airlines and ticket sellers”.
Some improvement
But federal authorities also noted that the quality of airline service “generally improved in 2023,” as only 1.29% of flights scheduled by the top 10 companies were canceled, compared to 2.29% in 2022.
When announcing the initiative this past Tuesday with the 18 states and territories from the Denver airport, the US Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, highlighted that the agreement has the support of both Republicans and Democrats.
Buttigieg added that the agreement will allow the attorneys general of the states that have signed the agreement to investigate complaints received against airlines and send those that indicate a violation of regulations to the Department of Transportation.
The states and territories that are part of the initiative are: California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New York, New Hampshire, North Carolina, the Northern Mariana Islands, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, the Virgin Islands and Wisconsin.
