US directs airlines to provide free meals during travel chaos

Bloomberg

US airlines should buy meals and hotel rooms for passengers suffering the lengthy flight delays, according to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who called the disruptions roiling the travel industry “unacceptable.”
In a letter to major carriers, Buttigieg asked that travellers be given meal vouchers for delays of at least three hours that are caused by the airlines themselves. Passengers stranded overnight should be given hotel lodging accommodations, he said.
The DOT is also planning to set up a new website before the busy Labor Day weekend for travelers with airline-by-airline policies on services they provide when flights are canceled or delayed.
“The level of disruption Americans have experienced this summer is unacceptable,” Buttigieg said in the letter, which was sent to the heads of Delta Air Lines Inc, JetBlue Airways Corp and other carriers. “Regardless of the cause of the delays or cancellations, the department expects airlines to provide timely and responsive customer service during and after periods of flight disruptions.”
The letter comes as airline travel this year has begun rebounding from the pandemic, prompting dramatic increases in airline-caused delays and cancellations. The DOT is “contemplating” creating new regulations to add protections to passengers, Buttigieg said in the letter.
Meal vouchers would be an unusual offering for airlines, which typically only commit to giving passengers food on the aircraft and only after lengthy tarmac delays. Major airlines already provide overnight accommodations for passengers under their policies.
Airlines emerging from the impacts of Covid-19 have faced “challenges,” but comply with all federal laws, the group said.