Last week I talked about some new U.S. Department of Transportation rules that were quietly rolled out — without any period for public debate or comment — and were supposed to go into effect Oct. 19.

In essence, these new rules will roll back a number of airline passenger protections when flights were delayed, canceled or otherwise disrupted.

Currently, when an airline flight is delayed, and the reasons are deemed to be under the airlines direct operational responsibility or control, the airline compensates passengers with a cash payment, hotel room, meal voucher and alternate transportation.

Under the Biden administration, every major U.S. airline began publishing their corporate passenger care commitments, tracked on DOT’s Airline Cancellation and Delay Dashboard, to provide amenities such as meals and rebooking when a delay or cancellation is within its control.

The one exception which exempted the airlines from any responsibility: weather.