U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy will meet with airline CEOs today to discuss the future of air traffic control and consumer protections. Will we soon see Biden-era consumer protections for airline consumers gutted?
Transportation Secretary Duffy Meets With Airline CEOs On ATC Upgrades And Consumer Protections
Last week I wrote about the push by Airlines 4 America, the lobbying arm of the US airline industry, to gut consumer protections that were added during the prior administration (and even earlier), including:
| Current Rule | Proposed Change |
|---|---|
| Airlines must report on-time performance, mishandled baggage, wheelchairs, complaints, and cancellations via DOT consumer reports. | Airlines want to scrap public reporting requirements, effectively self-police their performance with no public accountability. |
| Passengers are guaranteed refunds, compensation, and rebooking support for delays and cancellations per recent 2025 protections (e.g., legal definition of significant delay, live service). | Airlines propose rolling back protections, including timely refunds, rerouting obligations, and transparency around delays and cancellations. |
| Airlines must disclose all fees (checked bags, carry-on, seat selection, change fees) clearly at booking. | Airlines want to remove these disclosure requirements, making it harder for consumers to compare true prices. |
| Family seating protections require airlines to seat parents with children under 13 at no extra cost. | Airlines propose eliminating this mandate, leaving families subject to extra fees to sit together. |
| All-in pricing rules require airlines to show the full fare—including taxes and mandatory fees—upfront. | Airlines want to return to base fare advertising, burying taxes and fees until the final step of booking. |
| DOT is reviewing economy class seat sizes to ensure minimum standards for health and safety. | Airlines want to end government oversight of seat pitch and width, keeping authority to shrink seats further. |
> Read More: US Airlines Push Trump To Kill Passenger Rights: Refunds, Family Seating, And Fee Transparency On The Line
Today, Wednesday, September 10, 2025, Duffy will meet with airline CEOs at the headquarters of Airlines 4 Americas in Washington, DC. The primary topic of discussion will be modernizing the air traffic control (ATC) system. Duffy is seeking an additional $19 billion allocation from Congress to fast-track upgrades of the nation’s aging ATC infrastructure after several mishaps this year, including a crash of a U.S. Army helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet over Washington National Airport (DCA).
Duffy will also discuss regulatory reforms under consideration by his department. Last week, the Trump administration dropped a proposed rule to require airlines to pay European/British/Canadian-style cash compensation for delays and cancellations within its control. But airlines want more, including the items noted in the table above.
Already, the Department of Transportation said that it is considering dropping regulations that require airlines (and online travel agencies) to disclose service fees net to airfare.
CONCLUSION
Transportation Secretary Duffy will meet with airline CEOs and lobbyists in Washington, DC, today to discuss ATC upgrades and consumer protection reforms.
I find myself heartened by the investment in air traffic control, a long-overdue infrastructure component that prior administrations have not properly prioritized. On the other hand, I find the idea of consumer protections on the chopping block to be nothing but a dereliction of duty. I’ll provide an update after the meeting.
The current protection is nearly worthless except for the all price, including taxes, disclosed and the disclosure of baggage fees.
Compensation for late flights was only proposed by Biden, not in place. (He forgot because of dementia?)
His term ended…dips**t.
Epstein bff will gut everything.
Pete, you had 4 years to do it. Please don’t call me a dipsh*t. Actually it’s you that dips your junk in feces or it is your husband? It’s ok but don’t falsely accused me of dipping in you know what
Conquistadors of The Sky plotting with MAGA how to rape consumers.
‘Ride ’em cowboy !’ …. And fasten your seatbelt !
The more things change, the more they remain the same, unfortunately!
… lol
Here’s a solution, gut the protections but make the airlines contribute large financial amounts toward updating the ATC system so it’s not all on the taxpayers.
And IF rates go up, those flying are paying for it.
WIN/WIN
Consumers are already starting to pay for it with higher prices created by tariffs which in turn go directly to the Government. How about they use that windfall instead so consumers are not paying twice? Otherwise y’all are seriously headed to a “Let Them Eat Cake” moment that is not going to end well.
One thing is certain …. If airlines pay more, the pax will pay (even) more !
Don’t worry, Jesus and free-market capitalism will take care of us, just like with the 737MAX boondoggle.
You mean the 1965 Max in service flying thousands of flights daily? The Max that more the 80 airlines fly 5000+ flights daily with? The Max that I personally flew 7 times in August 2025?
That 737 MAX?
Last week I was flying from Maui to Oahu and on Hawaiian Airlines and i walked into the flight deck mid-descent (Hawaii vibes, shoots) and the pilots told me the 737-100 they were flying had just been upgraded to a MAX by Dennis Muilenburg personally who installed the MCAS system with his Flipper Zero… you learn something new every day!
Yes, indeed, that MAX which had two horrific devastating and avoidable crashes….
Douchebag Dave Edwards & Sch*tt Hsuan & Demented Derek, proving with your every (too frequent) comment that your nicknames are absolutely accurate and completely deserved and that you have nothing better to do with your pathetic waste-of-oxygen lives than to post abhorrent and revolting comments here over and over again every single day. Thank you for confirming once again that you and other MAGAs are stupid hateful racist cretins. Trolling or not, the extent and frequency of your comments are indicative of severe psychiatric and/or addiction problems. Your insults, undoubtedly projection, speak much more to your lack of character than to anyone you attack. You should crawl back under whatever rock you crawled out from you SHPOS.
The GOP is never on your side unless you are the most wealthy in the Nation. Requiring airlines to disclose the real fare and the cost of add ons is just common sense.
Government of the people, by the people, for the people. Yeah, whatever. None of this costs the airlines very much. These CEOs are despicable.
It’s amazing that they can’t legally gather to collude on pricing and scheduling, but they can collude, with the government, on regulation that only benefit the carriers and not consumers.
Corporations control everything. We just live here. It’s truly our purpose in life to support them, make them money, and pay taxes so they don’t have to.