The U.S. Senate is working on a transporation bill that contains language that would prohibit the Department of Transportation from enforcing rules that allow you to cancel an airline ticket within 24 hours, or to hold the fare for 24 hours before buying.
The rule originally applied only to airlines (which could choose to use either the hold, or the cancellation promise) and brick-and-mortar travel agencies. Other regulations involved include the ones that require the seller to disclose all fees (such as baggage, changes, etc.) before quoting the final price.
Last year, D.O.T. issued regulations that would extend the requirements to other ticket sellers who do over $100 million business annually, which obviously means bookers such as Expedia, Priceline, TripAdvisor, Kayak and to meta-search sites such as Google Flights.
At the moment, the Senate is considering a transportation appropriations bill, with language barring DOT from spending any money enforcing those consumer-protection rules. An amendment submitted by Sen. Markey (D-Mass) and Sen. Thune (R-SD) and others would take that language out; the House has already passed its version, without the “do-not-enforce” language.
The Markey amendment has drawn support from Airlines4America, the airline lobby, and from other groups that are already subject to the rules. If there are days when politics is travel news…this must be one of them!
