Feds Target Lost Bags, Tarmac Delays in Latest Air Regulations

One new rule from the federal government: requiring airlines to refund baggage fees if they lose your checked luggage.

Image: iStockphoto

About a year after the Department of Transportation (DOT) imposed new rules that require airlines to actually deliver some of what it charges you to do, the agency is taking another step toward requiring carriers to perform.

Effective 120 days from now, the DOT will essentially require that:

• Airlines refund your baggage fees if they fail to deliver your checked luggage.
• Foreign carriers not hold passengers on tarmacs for more than four hours without allowing travelers to return to the gate and disembark. (Last year's rules required U.S. carriers to return to the gate after three hours.)
• Do a better job of informing passengers of delays and alerting them to the cost of new fees for bags, meals, seat assignments and other items that were once bundled in the cost of a ticket.
• Permit passengers to hold reservations at the quoted fare for 24 hours without a fee or cancel an itinerary without penalty within 24 hours of making a reservation. This would apply to any reservations made at least seven days before departure.
• Pay as much as $1,300 if they deny boarding to passengers holding a valid ticket and reservation. (Current rules cap the compensation at $800.)

Of course, the devil is in the details of these kinds regulations. While the "tarmac hold" and bumping rules are easy to police, the other regulations will require additional specificity. And that's usually where the airlines and their lobbyists get involved, not always to the consumer's benefit.

If you want to read the new regulations, click here to download the PDF of the (yike!) 213-page document.

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