Whatever happened to passenger rights?

Since 1978, when deregulation began, there’s never been a formal airline passenger bill of rights. The actual federal act of deregulation prevented individual states from issuing one, or legislating one. And on the federal side, the only possible course was for the U.S. Department of Transportation to issue a series of rules that — in effect — formed that bill of rights.

Back in late 2024, in the last days of the Biden administration, the US DOT attempted to do just that. Their new proposed rules protect passengers in ways that had never happened before. They mandated what airlines then had to do in the event of a flight delay/cancellation that was not under the airline's operational control.