Washington, D.C. — After reports of an extremely chaotic day for U.S. airports yesterday, including 8+ hour tarmac delays, scheduling disasters, almost 1,500 cancelled flights across the country, and an unacceptable lack of communication for stranded travelers, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement urging U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Pete Buttigieg to finally stand up to the airline industry.

“While Secretary Buttigieg can’t control the weather, he can absolutely hold airlines accountable for ensuring flights take off and land on schedule and, when they can’t, passengers aren’t duped out of the cash refunds they’re owed,” said Senior Fellow for Aviation & Travel William J. McGee. “Yet the Secretary, who has sole authority to oversee the airline industry, still refuses to fine any U.S. airline even a single dollar to put an end to flagrant, systematic violations of consumer protection law. As this summer’s travel chaos intensifies, one thing seems clear: Secretary Pete is siding with the airlines — while air travelers, who are owed $10 billion and counting in refunds, are on their own.”

Yesterday, in one of this summer’s worst air travel days in some cities, flight cancellations and delays stranded hundreds of thousands of passengers across the country. According to FlightAware, 8,384 flights were delayed domestically, while flight cancellations reached 1,485. Below, is additional information on the top five U.S. airports that experienced disruptions on Monday, August 22.

• Newark: 41% delayed; 27% canceled.
• NY/LaGuardia: 48% delayed; 22% canceled.
• NY/JFK: 51% delayed; 8% canceled.
• Dallas-Fort Worth: 58% delayed; 14% canceled.
• Houston/Bush: 33% delayed; 10% canceled.

All airlines are subject to weather and air traffic control disruptions, but good airlines prioritize the needs of their passengers and mitigate the inconvenience. There have also been widespread reports that many passengers were trapped on airport tarmacs for hours on end. The DOT regulations clearly require airlines to provide updates, food, water, and the option to depart the flight in the event of extremely lengthy tarmac delays. It appears many airlines failed to do so yesterday

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.