Democrat lawmakers called on Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to take action against airlines over frequent delays, cancellations and soaring airfares. The Department of Transport needs to create ‘concrete rules for refunds’ and enforce it.

The DOT can improve service delivery for travellers and help reign in ‘exorbitant’ ticket prices driven in part by anticompetitive mergers,” Elizabeth Warren wrote in a letter detailing ‘rampant unfair practices’

Warren and Sen. Alex Padilla want “fines on airlines for the delays and cancellations that result from their own poor planning”.

Warren and Padilla said 1 in 5 flights have arrived late in 2022 and airlines cancelled nearly 122,000 flights so far this year.

“Airlines have also increased flight overbookings, causing passengers to be involuntarily denied boarding nearly three times as often this year than they were in 2018,” the senators said.

“Unions are sounding the alarm that airlines are selling tickets for flights they know they will not be able to staff.”