It possibly took Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s own flight cancellation, but now travelers have an easy-to-use online tool to find out just what they can ask of their carrier in case of cancellations or delays. While most travelers did get their long-awaited vacations this summer, scenes of airport confusion and stories of extensive delays, left thousands of passengers frustrated and uncertain what to do. The new dashboard should give clarity and confidence to travelers that their issues were heard and addressed.
I like easy and the two pages of easy-to-use, at a glance information, will find a place in my travel bag, along with the link on my phone. The Department of Transportation’s spreadsheet (transportation.gov/airline-commitments-PDF-version) lists the ten major US based carriers and their levels of compensation. It is valuable information but remember you still must ask. I would not expect too many airlines to be volunteering free hotel stays.
It is now clear that layoffs and retirements throughout the travel industry during the early pandemic years combined with a sudden huge surge in demand created the perfect storm for this summer’s travel headaches. But travelers persevered, the industry persevered, and a lot of challenging work has gone into developing new initiatives and reforms to avoid a repeat of summer 2022 travel headaches. The Airline Customer Service Commitments dashboard and the extensive list of links to customer service issues at transportation.gov/consumer are a couple of results. Look for more to come.
For a PDF Version of the Dashboard, Visit:
For more information about traveling challenges, contact DreamMaker Destinations: dz@dreammaker.org or call 330-689-1920.
Donna Zabel, owner of DreamMaker Destinations, has been helping travelers turn their travel dreams into travel reality for over 20 years. Having explored all seven continents and about 135 countries, she enjoys sharing her travel tales and encourages everyone to find their own story to tell.