Some airlines are still struggling to reboot their service in the wake of last weekend's cataclysmic CloudStrike software shutdown.
On Monday, Delta Air Lines was still limping its way back to the runways. The airline announced it had to cancel another 800 departures on the first workday of the week, bringing the total of scrapped flights to more than 5,000 since Friday.
It what must be the first for the head of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Sec. Pete Buttigieg, took to multiple social media channels to remind travelers of their rights amid the crisis. On Saturday, on X, formerly Twitter, he reminded passengers that they no longer had to tolerate substandard refunds by the airlines.
"I am hearing reports of some airlines only offering flight credits to passengers for cancelled flights," Buttigieg posted. "Let me be clear—you are entitled to get your money back promptly if your flight is cancelled and you don't take a rebooking."
Buttigieg was referring to a new set of requirements for airlines that were instituted by the Department of Transportation earlier this year, shortly after the DOT collaborated on the rules in consultation with 18 states attorneys general.
"After 46 years, this is an historic first," Frommer's wrote when the new requirements were announced.
But many American consumers apparently remained unaware of the new protections for significantly delayed flights.
By Sunday, most airlines had reduced their disruptions to a minimum, but disruptions at Delta Air Lines remained problematic. So Buttigieg called the CEO of Delta Air Lines.
"I have made clear to Delta that we expect the airline to provide prompt refunds to consumers who choose not to be rebooked, and free rebooking and timely reimbursements for food and overnight hotel stays to consumers affected by the delays and cancellations, as well as adequate customer service assistance to all of their passengers," Buttigieg said in statement.
The secretary also took to Facebook to remind passengers of the new, federally backed standards—but this time, he called out Delta by name.
"We have received reports of continued disruptions and unacceptable customer service conditions at Delta Air Lines, including hundreds of complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation," Sec. Buttigieg wrote in a message posted to Facebook on Sunday that repeated air passengers' new rights to reimbursements and hotel stays.
Comments to Buttigieg's Facebook post were flooded with passengers citing specific reports of undelivered services and substandard refund offers by multiple U.S. airlines.
Buttigieg directed travelers to a link to a Department of Transportation form that gives passengers a way to film formal complaints to the federal government.
Ordinarily, lodging government complaints through online forms has felt like tossing prayers into a void. But Buttigieg's responses over the busy news weekend confirmed that the DOT was indeed logging the complaints and following up with the airlines' chieftains.
"No one should be stranded at an airport overnight or stuck on hold for hours waiting to talk to a customer service agent. If any airline fails to honor its customer service requirements, let us know," Buttigieg posted to X on Sunday on his official DOT account.
To complain to the Department of Transportation, use the complaint link tweeted by the DOT secretary.
For the full DOT explanation of air passengers' new refund rights, use this link.
Update, July 23: Secretary Buttigieg announced that he has opened a DOT investigation of the failures at Delta Air Lines.
