The Trump administration will implement a new rule next week that it expects will reduce the “amenities and compensation” airlines provide to travelers, sparking uproar among critics.
“No more cheap airlines, we are paying through the nose for flights now — and, under Trump, all the consumer protections we had are gone,” wrote Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Julie K. Brown in a social media post on X. “This doesn’t hurt wealthy people; it only helps airlines that overbook their flights and create havoc that leads to delays.”
Taking effect Oct. 19, the new rule will change how airlines classify certain flight delays and cancellations. Specifically, it will exclude 10 causes of delay and cancellation from disruptions considered to be within an airline’s control, including certain unscheduled aircraft maintenance and certain government system failures.
In the new rule’s text, signed by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, the Transportation Department explicitly notes that the “number of delays and cancellations for which air carriers provide amenities and compensation to consumers is expected to be reduced.”
“Again Trump and Republicans screwing American voters!!!” wrote Democratic strategist and CNN commentator Maria Cardona. “It’s like they WANT to lose the elections!!!”
Sports journalist and author Mike Freeman expressed shock at news of the impending rule change, writing, “Holy smokes.” Writer and advocate Carly Pildis suggested that the timing of the new rule didn’t bode well for Republicans.
“This campaign ad writes itself,” Pildis wrote in a social media post on X.
Author and internet personality George Ouzounian sarcastically quipped that the Trump administration was “finally” making flying “great again” with the new rule, and sports broadcaster and journalist Mat Smith bemoaned that Americans appeared to be “just getting f—– every which way til Sunday” under the Trump administration.
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