During an interview with NBC News aired on Tuesday’s edition of “Hallie Jackson Now,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg responded to air travel complaints in January 2023 doubling from the amount of complaints in January 2022 by stating that the DOT has gotten refunds for people and “one of the reasons that we’re seeing a lot of these complaints come in is that passengers are seeing, when they do complain to us about an airline not taking care of them, we follow up and we make sure that they get taken care of.”
Host Hallie Jackson asked, “But there is I think a bit of a trust issue for Americans. You have the number of complaints — I know the new numbers that came out are just in January — basically doubled from where they were the years — the year before. People aren’t happy. People are stressed when they’re going out and flying. Why should they trust you when you say that you think these changes will pay off during this incredibly busy travel season we’re about to hit?”
Buttigieg responded, “Well, this is not a qualitative thing. This is very direct and objective. Did you get delayed or not? Did you get canceled or not? And if the airline owes you a refund, did you get it or not? We’ve gotten over a billion dollars in refunds to passengers just since I got here through our enforcement tools. And I think one of the reasons that we’re seeing a lot of these complaints come in is that passengers are seeing, when they do complain to us about an airline not taking care of them, we follow up and we make sure that they get taken care of. So, we’re going to continue building up these protections that did not exist even a year ago. But of course, the best way to deal with this is not for us to come in and have to enforce and issue fines and beat up airlines, it’s for airlines to take care of these issues in the first place, and they’ve stepped up, there’s a long way to go.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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