New Airline Law: What does it mean for you?

As you may have seen in the news, the Federal Government has enacted a new law protecting consumers against flight cancellations and significant delays to scheduled flights. Under this new law, travelers who find themselves in this situation are entitled to an AUTOMATIC refund from the airline, no questions asked.

So what is a “significant” delay? The following scenarios qualify:

• domestic delays exceeding 3 hours or international delays exceeding 6 hours
• a change to your origination or destination airport
• addition of layovers (for example you booked a non-stop flight and suddenly you have a 45 minute layover in Atlanta
• you are downgraded to a lower class of service
• a passenger with a disability is scheduled to travel through one or more connecting airports that differ from the original itinerary
• the passenger with a disability is scheduled to travel on a substitute aircraft that results in one or more accessibility features needed by the passenger being unavailable.

Additionally, travelers are entitled to refunds related to baggage fees due to baggage delays and refunds for in-flight services that may have been purchased (such as seat selection fees). This is a huge win for consumers against the airlines.

This DOES, however, make booking air travel with an agency a little difficult. Let me explain why. Stick with me here.

Booking air through a travel agent typically involves the agent using a third-party tour operator. Tour operators offer two types of airfares – PUBLISHED and BULK fares. Published fares are what they sound like – these are the fares that you’ll find on the airline website and are published for the world to see. Bulk air is an unpublished airfare that the tour operators negotiate directly with the airlines.

As your travel agent, I don’t book air directly with the airlines. Instead, for individual trips, I utilize the tour operator’s packaging capabilities to bundle air, lodging and transfers into one nice, neat little package. (the process is different for groups, and I’ll get to that). As the client, you submit a deposit to the tour operator and – if Bulk air is being booked – that deposit may be $250-300 per person. The tour operator in turn pays the airline.

For groups, Bulk air is not an option. You’ll be paying Published fares and paying in full at time of booking, whether you book the flight through an agent, through a third party such as CheapTickets or on the airline’s website.

Here’s the bottom line: Moving forward, I am recommending that all travelers book your own flights DIRECTLY WITH THE AIRLINE. Booking air through a third party will slow down your instant refund because the airline will refund the third party, not YOU. You’ll then have to get refunded from the third party, which may not be instant. I’ve always been an advocate of booking directly with the airline to utilize points, earn miles on airline-branded credit cards, and for the easiest ways to make changes to your flights. But now? I’m singing it from the mountaintops.

What that said, this is merely a recommendation. As a dedication to my customer service, I’ll always book a flight for a client if they really need assistance. Especially to take advantage of those low initial deposits. However, I will now ask clients to acknowledge that any refunds related to a flight cancellation or delay may not be instantaneous due to third party involvement. And assistance with published air will attract a minimal agency fee.

How do you feel about the new airline law?