BWI passengers react as White House pushes for compensation for flight delays, cancellations

BALTIMORE -- Delays and cancellations are always the worst case scenario for any traveler, so the Biden Administration is trying to make sure you're taken care of if it happens to you.

The new regulations would require all airlines to cover passengers beyond airfare. 

People WJZ talked to at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport are on board.

Lu-Anne Blankenship knows too well the impact a delayed flight can make, being stranded in Atlanta twice in the past.

Her experience, though, was different each time.

"The first time it happened, they put us up in a hotel and gave us meal vouchers," Blankeship said. "But, the second time it happened, there was nothing. We had to spend the night in the airport."

Experiences like what Blankenship had are why the Biden Administration wants to make airlines more uniform when it comes to compensation.

On Monday, President Biden and Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Transportation Secretary, said these new rules would require airline compensation for meals, hotel rooms, transportation, re-bookings -- all on top of a ticket refund.

This would apply to delays and cancellations that are not weather-related and within the carriers' control.

In December, we saw how thousands got stranded nationwide due to Southwest's system meltdown. The U.S. Department of Transportation said more than 180,000 flights, about 3% overall, were cancelled last year.

The airline industry is calling these proposed rules unnecessary.

"We have no incentive to delay or cancel a flight, when that happens and it's in our control we do everything we can to make our passengers whole," Nicholas Calio, president and CEO of Airlines for America, said.

Linda and Thomas Porter have been traveling a lot since they've retired. At this point, they factor in delays in their plans.

"We needed to come to his high school reunion. The festivities didn't start until Friday night, but we got [to Baltimore] Tuesday because I don't trust the airlines," Linda said.

The couple like the idea of these rules, hoping the rules really help travelers in need.

"Kind of gives the airlines a kick in the butt, if you will," Linda said. "To think of the customer that's been delayed."

While the new regulations could come later this year, it'd be some time before they actually go into effect. It could take anywhere from about a year to two years.