By Sumayya
New United States government rules regarding flight disruptions that start early next year could affect passengers traveling from Canada, though experts disagree on whether they will have a big effect.
The U.S. Department of Transportation, which printed the new rules in the Federal Register daily journal in September, is changing the group of 10 types of events that cause flight delays and cancellations to be labeled as outside of the airline’s control. These events include a passenger’s death, unplanned mechanical problems, bad weather, computer security attacks, and possible technology failures.
The rule was supposed to start on October 19 but was pushed back until February 1, 2027.
The department admitted in the announcement that “the total value of comforts and payment currently given by air companies to consumers will be lowered under this final rule.” Katy Nastro, a travel industry expert living in New York, said the new rules might mean travelers will not have the right to the same type of protections they used to get.
“So basically, it is taking some of what used to be the responsibility of the airlines and putting them in a new group… outside of the airline’s control,” Katy Nastro, a travel industry expert living in New York, said in a video interview on Friday. “And very simply, for travelers, that means you might not have the right to the same type of protections that you have now.”
“Now, when this new rule starts, you as a passenger, if you are affected because of an unplanned repair event, this is outside of the airline’s control, meaning that they are not now forced, or really required, to give a hotel coupon or a food coupon,” she added.
An airline passenger support group called FlyersRights is taking legal action against the U.S. Department of Transportation over the rules, which they say move the costs of airline delays onto the passengers.
“A change in reporting groups is not a permission to lower passenger rights,” Paul Hudson, the leader of FlyersRights, said in a news statement on Friday. “… The rule secretly moves costs from airlines back to passengers for delays involving mechanical problems that are the responsibility and fault of the airlines.”
Nastro, a reporter with the Flighty flight-tracking phone app, said the change will affect anyone “traveling within the U.S., to the U.S., or from the U.S.,” no matter their citizenship or what airline they use, if their flight faces certain types of problems that are now labeled outside the airline’s control.
“In certain situations, it does make the problem group fuzzy for consumers,” Nastro said. “This new law… just makes it even more confusing for travelers when they are trying to figure out exactly what they have a right to get in terms of problem protections.”
Under the current Department of Transportation rules, Nastro said problem flights might allow travelers to get hotel or food coupons, book a new flight, or get their money back.
Gábor Lukács, the leader of Air Passenger Rights, said he believes the new rules might have a “very small” effect on Canadian travelers flying to or from the U.S. because they would have some rights under the Canadian Air Passenger Protection Regulations.
However, he said Canada’s passenger protection rules are “weak” with guidelines that are “unnecessarily complicated” and “very hard to enforce.”
He said the U.S. rule change’s effect is “mostly about paperwork,” because it changes how flight problems are being reported, and passengers are not paid in cash for flight problems in the U.S.
Lukács said the main problem with the new rules will be unexpected repair issues, which he said is “completely unfair.”
