Rotten luck seems to follow Mattia Zenere, 31, on his travels lately.
Over the past five years, four of his flights have involved long delays or cancellations, including one misadventure — on a trip from London to Venice, Italy — that caused him to arrive a full day late.
But there’s a silver lining: Thanks to Europe’s robust consumer protection rules for airlines, in each case, the customer service professional was refunded his out-of-pocket expenses. Mr. Zenere also received an additional hardship payout from the airline for three of the disruptions.
“The law really works,” he said.
For fed-up air travelers in the U.S., similar protections could be on the horizon — and the airlines aren’t happy about it. This week, President Biden and Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, announced plans to introduce new rules this year that would require airlines to pay up for travel disruptions they cause.
Following waves of pandemic-era flight interruptions and the fiasco…
This article was written by Bernhard Warner and Sarah Kessler and originally published on www.nytimes.com