Airlines want to roll back consumer protections — will your rights disappear?

Imagine this: Your flight’s been delayed over and over. But when you ask a lone worker staffing the customer service counter for help, he just shrugs. There’s no meal voucher, no compensation — not even an apology. Just an indifferent employee telling you to deal with it.

Or how about this: You click on an airline website to buy a ticket and it lists a too-good-to-be-true round-trip fare of $29. But as you go through the booking process, the airline adds checked luggage charges, carry-on luggage fees, convenience charges, taxes, airport fees and fuel surcharges. Suddenly $29 is more like $290.

Sound far-fetched? It could be your reality sooner than you think.

The U.S. government just jettisoned a proposed rule that would have required airlines to pay passengers up to $775 for lengthy delays. Now, the airline industry wants to go further — much further. In a sweeping letter to the Department of Transportation, airline lobbyists have outlined their deregulatory wish list. 

It reads like a passenger’s nightmare.

The airlines aren’t just asking for minor tweaks. They want to roll back mandatory refunds for canceled flights, a rule requiring “all-in” pricing and a requirement that families be seated together at no extra charge. If they get their way, flying could become a one-sided game where airlines hold all the cards.

The U.S. airline industry’s great deregulation push

Before you get too excited, keep this in mind: The Department of Transportation (DOT), which regulates airlines, has promised to enforce all congressional consumer protection laws. (In Washington, Congress usually passes a law and then the DOT creates a rule, which it enforces.)

“The Department of Transportation rules that the airline lobbyists oppose include common-sense protections such as refund requirements, restrictions on junk fees, and guaranteed family seating,” says Tomasz Pawliszyn, CEO of AirHelp. “Fortunately for travelers, these protections are already firmly established, as the Department of Transportation rules closely align with the refund standards Congress passed in 2024.” 

But Congress could easily get behind the airline industry’s extreme agenda. The political winds have shifted — and consumer protections could get blown away.

Currently, U.S. passengers have far fewer rights than their European counterparts. While EU travelers can claim up to $650 for delays over three hours, Americans get nothing for domestic delays, even when airlines are at fault.

The protections U.S. air travelers have are modest:

• Automatic refunds for canceled flights or significant changes (if you choose not to travel).
• Basic full-fare advertising requirements (airlines must include taxes and fees upfront). 
• Bare-bones accessibility (protections for disabled passengers).
• Family seating guarantees (though implementation remains murky).

But even these minimal safeguards are under assault.

What airlines really want

Airline lobbyists have outlined their agenda in detail. It’s not just about the compensation rule — that was just the opening salvo. 

Here’s the airline industry’s battle plan:

☑ Eliminate automatic refund requirements for flight changes and cancellations.

☑ Scrap fee transparency rules that force disclosure of baggage and seat fees upfront.

☑ Remove some accessibility protections for passengers with disabilities.

☑ End enforcement of family seating requirements.

Airlines also want to weaken the regulatory framework by terminating a cooperation agreement with state attorneys general on airline passenger rights and imposing a two-year statute of limitations on DOT enforcement actions.

What will they replace it with? Nothing. Airlines want to decide where and when to compensate their passengers, if they do at all. But consumer advocates say that’s a bad idea.

“Carriers can’t be allowed to decide for themselves who and when to compensate,” warns Daria Volochniuk, chief operating officer at FlightRefunder. “Clear, universal rules are needed.”

Airlines claim flying will be a better experience when it’s deregulated. The question is, better for whom?

What about Europe? 

New research suggests American passengers are already getting shortchanged because of lax regulation. U.S. flights were almost three times more likely to have long delays compared to European departures in 2024, according to a recent study by AirHelp. Same-day cancellations were also more common in the States.

Pawliszyn, AirHelp’s CEO, says strong consumer regulations in Europe have directly led to a 5 percent reduction in delays. The cost of those protections? Between 60 cents and $1.20 cents per passenger. (Related: Don’t let your airline rights fly away. Here’s how to protect them.)

Yes, one dollar.

U.S. airlines claim European-style compensation would raise fares and hurt competition. But Europe’s airline market remains fiercely competitive, with budget carriers thriving under the current compensation system.

What’s really at stake

If the airlines succeed, they could turn back the clock to the early 2000s. Remember when you needed a calculator to figure out how much your airline ticket would cost? Remember when you had to fight for a refund when your airline canceled your flight — the airline always wanted to give you an expiring voucher? Remember when airlines intentionally separated passengers so they would pay extra to sit together, even if it was a family with young children?

“If regulations are removed, consumers will face many more surprise charges on travel purchases such as list prices for checked bags and seat assignments, and less protection against refundable purchases,” warns attorney Christopher Migliaccio, who frequently handles airline disputes for his clients. 

Now what? 

What will actually happen? The U.S. government has shown it’s willing to roll back regulations across multiple industries. 

My prediction: The airlines will get some of what they want, but not everything. The automatic refund rule will likely survive — it’s popular and has bipartisan support. But fee transparency requirements could disappear, and the European-style compensation rule is dead on arrival.

The bigger danger is Congress. If lawmakers embrace the industry’s deregulatory agenda wholesale, passenger rights could vanish faster than chicken entrees on a transcontinental flight.

The ultimate question isn’t whether airlines will roll back some protections — they will. It’s how far they’ll push before public outrage stops them.

“The airline industry is pulling off a heist in broad daylight,” says Andy Abramson, a frequent flier and communications consultant from Las Vegas. “We gave these airlines $54 billion in bailouts, and this is how they thank us?” 

What will airlines think of next? Is it possible they will someday soon be allowed to quote a “zero” fare, then add luggage fees, taxes, fuel surcharges, seat assignments, and “convenience fees”? Or even take your money without operating a flight? 

Don’t laugh. The industry’s 93-page wish list suggests they’re willing to test just how much passengers will tolerate. As I’ve learned in my decades of consumer advocacy, when it comes to exploiting passengers, you should never underestimate the airline industry’s creativity.

Their dream is our nightmare, and it’s boarding now at a gate near you.

Next week: How to protect your vanishing airline rights — and fight back when airlines try to take advantage of weaker rules.