New DOT rule tackles fees, bumping, flight delays

DALLAS — Airlines will soon be required to refund bag fees if they lose luggage, and they’ll pay travelers more for bumping them from a flight.

The federal government planned to announce new passenger protections Wednesday that also expand a tarmac-delay rule to prevent passengers from being stranded on international flights for longer than four hours.

The airlines will also have to include fees and taxes in advertised prices.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the new regulations, which take effect in late August, were designed to make sure airlines treat travelers fairly.

“It’s just common sense that if an airline loses your bag or you get bumped from a flight because it was oversold, you should be reimbursed,” he said.

The new provision on tarmac delays expands upon last year’s 3-hour limit for flights within the U.S. Regulators were persuaded to apply a 4-hour limit to international flights after a late-December debacle in which several planes loaded with international travelers were stuck, some for more than 10 hours, on snowy runways at New York’s JFK Airport.