People wait in a TSA checkpoint line at Orlando International Airport on November 19, 2022, in Orlando, Florida. Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via AP
Flying during the Thanksgiving holiday is likely to be terrible—as usual. The lobbying group Airlines for America anticipates a record 31 million people will take to the air to visit family and friends for the holiday. But no matter how terrible the flying experience might be this season, it will probably be as good as it gets for a long time to come, as the second Trump administration plans to take a wrecking ball to commercial airline regulation.
Under Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the federal Department of Transportation has made a priority of tackling some of the biggest gripes Americans have had about air travel. To that end, the DOT has extracted nearly $4 billion in reimbursements and refunds owed to passengers since President Joe Biden took office, including forcing Southwest Airlines to refund more than $600 million to more than 2 million passengers who were stranded after it canceled 60 percent of its flights over two days during the December holidays in 2022. The DOT also fined the airline $140 million for a host of operational failures and consumer protection violations.
Under Biden, the DOT has forced most of the major airlines to guarantee free rebooking, meals, and even hotel accommodations when they cause a major delay. And it’s issued at least $225 million in penalties against airlines for violating consumer protection laws—a record. For example, in October, the DOT fined American Airlines $50 million for mistreating passengers with disabilities, including by breaking or losing thousands of wheelchairs.
Airlines destroying or breaking wheelchairs has been a chronic issue. In 2016, the Obama administration tried to remedy the problem with new regulations that would force airlines to track how often they broke or lost wheelchairs and mobility scooters. But as Mother Jones’ Russ Choma reported, the previous Trump administration, larded up with lobbyists from the industry, delayed the rule implementation almost immediately upon taking office. It finally took effect nearly two years later, and only after Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a combat veteran and double amputee whose wheelchair had been lost by an airline, secured an amendment in Congress that forced the DOT’s hand.
The Biden DOT has also proposed rules to mandate disclosure of airline junk fees. This past spring, it issued a final rule requiring airlines to grant automatic cash refunds to people when the airlines cancel or cause significant delays to flights. The rule, which went into effect last month, spares travelers endless fights with airline bureaucracy to get their money back. And in August, the DOT proposed a rule to ban airlines from charging families extra fees to sit next to their children, a proposal that could save a family of four $200 on a round trip.
Unsurprisingly, the airlines hate all of this and long to return to the days when they could cancel your flight, keep your money, and force you to pay $50 so your toddler doesn’t have to sit next to a stranger on the plane. Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said this month that President-elect Donald Trump promised “to take a fresh look at the regulatory environment, the bureaucracy that exists in government, the level of overreach that we have seen over the last four years within our industry. I think that will be a breath of fresh air.” Trump promises to usher in that fresh air, as the authors of Project 2025 made clear in their blueprint for the new administration, writing, “Another problematic area is aviation consumer protection.”
Trump has signaled his intention to prioritize airline profits over passengers with his selection of former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy as his transportation secretary. A former reality TV star and Fox News host, Duffy previously was a lobbyist for the airline industry, which has ferociously fought Biden’s consumer measures with both lawsuits and gobs of lobbying money.
Duffy will be charged with following through on all the plans laid out in Project 2025, which include moving parts of the air traffic control system out of Washington in the hopes that much of the staff would quit—the 21st-century version of the Reagan administration firing striking air traffic controllers. Project 2025 envisions a world with far fewer controllers and even fewer control towers, and it advocates axing funding for research and development, as well as subsidies for essential air service to small, rural airports. People who live in Altoona, Pennsylvania, or Beckley, West Virginia, can probably kiss their airports goodbye—but air taxis for rich people will be a high priority in the Trump DOT.
So enjoy your miserable airport journey to see grandma for Thanksgiving this year. Next year’s trip promises to be much, much worse.
