Since early September, airlines have turned to the Trump administration to scrap various consumer protection regulations. Shortly after these lobbies, the administration announced it would remove a rule first implemented under the Biden administration that required airlines to compensate customers for delays and cancellations.

Filings recently placed by the Transportation Department point to plans to cut back on aviation industry rules. This means, while currently not much has changed for passengers, looking ahead to the near future, travelers should expect shifts. Some rules will likely be eliminated entirely, while others will be updated.

As of right now, nearly every major policy or rule in effect in the past still stands. For instance, if your flight is greatly delayed or canceled and you choose not to take the flight, you’re still entitled to a refund. These refunds, as implemented by Pete Buttigieg, former Secretary of Transportation, must be issued automatically to your original form of payment, meaning airlines cannot just offer flight credits or vouchers.

The 24-hour refund policy still applies for travelers who cancel within 24 hours of buying a ticket, as long as the ticket was purchased at least one week in advance of the flight. Currently, airlines are also still required to provide water and food during tarmac delays of more than two hours. Airlines must offer passengers the choice of disembarking the plan after four hours on the ground for international flights and three hours for domestic flights.

What rules could change in the coming months? The Trump administration revealed last week it would revoke the proposal first brought forth last December by Buttigieg. This proposal called for new passenger compensation rules requiring airlines to give cash compensation to passengers if there are significant delays or cancellations. The proposed rule called for airlines to give passengers at least $200 when flights were delayed three hours or more, with more compensation for longer cancellations or delays.

In the public filing of the proposal, U.S. and foreign air carriers would be required to “adopt and adhere to customer service plans identifying essential services (meals, rebooking, hotel, transportation to or from hotel, timely customer service) and compensation which airlines would be required to provide to mitigate passenger inconveniences when the cause of a cancellation or delay for flights to, within and from the United States was due to circumstances within the airline’s control.”

Of course, airlines and Airlines for America, the airline industry’s lobbying organization, are against such protections. And, as of this month, plans are underway to withdraw this proposal.

This isn’t the only protection in question. Airlines for America also requested this past May to withdraw other consumer protections, like automatic refunds to passengers during significant delays or cancellations. The request also calls for the elimination of the pricing transparency rule, which allowed passengers to see the entire price of tickets, as well as rules regarding the handling of airport signage and passenger wheelchairs.

This also raises questions regarding potential (and likely unavoidable and expected) outages at airports, like those that affected thousands of passengers at Newark Liberty International Airport this past May. These incidents do happen, no matter how much airlines and airports try to avoid them.

What are your thoughts on these potential changes? Do you think airlines should be responsible for compensating passengers due to major delays or cancellations? Have you ever experienced a cancellation or big delay? What was your experience like? Email us at letters@globaltravelerusa.com. Please include your full name and location.