Airline passengers have gained new rights, including the ability to hold a reservation without payment — or cancel one with a full refund — within 24 hours of making the reservation; as long as it’s made at least a week before the departure date. Some airlines were doing this voluntarily but now it’s a requirement.
It’s one of several new regulations the U.S. Department of Transportation announced in April 2011 that take effect now. The new rules also require airlines to promptly notify passengers of cancellations, diversions and delays longer than 30 minutes and generally prohibit them from increasing the price of a ticket after it is bought. The new rules apply to all airlines, foreign and domestic, operating in the United States and to ticket agents operating here.
Airlines and ticket agents also must disclose baggage fees to consumers when they book a flight online. Information on baggage fees also must be included on all e-ticket confirmations. For most trips the same baggage fees and allowances must apply throughout a passenger’s journey, the transportation department said.
Further, new advertising rules require airlines and ticket agents to include all mandatory taxes and fees in published airfares.
