GW Expert Available: U.S. DOT Reminding Travelers of Consumer Rights Ahead of Busy Holiday Travel Week

AAA expects more than 115 million Americans to travel over Christmas and New Year’s, with the U.S. Department of Transportation reporting that Dec. 21st will be the peak day for flights before the Christmas holiday weekend. As people prepare for their trips, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is reminding travelers to visit the DOT’s Airline Consumer Protection resources to better understand what their airline is required to cover in the event of a controllable cancellation or delay.  

Top of mind for a lot of travelers this season is last year’s meltdown by Southwest Airlines, which was fined this week $140 million for its failures that disrupted travel for nearly two million people over last year’s holiday season. It’s the DOT’s largest penalty on an airline for consumer protection violations.

Jungho Suh is a teaching assistant professor of management at the George Washington University School of Business. His areas of expertise include service management, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), entrepreneurship, human resource issues in the service industry, sustainability & ESG reporting in the travel industry, digital platforms in tourism & hospitality, and gastronomy tourism. Suh can discuss holiday travel trends and how this year’s anticipated seasonal demand also plays into the trend of “revenge travel,” referring to the idea of a spike in leisure travel after a period of being unable to travel, like the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Suh can also discuss the long-standing issues consumers have experienced with air travel in the United States over the last few years, including Southwest’s major meltdown last year and the steps being taken to improve the air travel experience.  

“While domestic year-end holiday travel is projected to record the second-highest number since 2000, according to AAA, The New York Times’ recent report reveals alarming vulnerabilities in the U.S. aviation safety system, focusing on a distressed air traffic control workforce. Moreover, many air travelers vividly remember Southwest Airlines’ turmoil last year’s holiday season, which caused more than 15,000 cancellations or significant delays and affected approximately 2 million people’s holiday travel plans,” Suh says. 

“On the other hand, considering 0.2% of flight cancellations over the recent Thanksgiving break, the Department of Transportation’s overall proactive initiative to improve traveler experience is on the right track to alleviate both travelers’ and airlines’ anxiety as they are getting ready for the high-demand travel season. Putting all the data into perspective, the upcoming year-end holiday season in 2023 is set to illustrate the continuing pattern of “revenge travel”—or beyond rebound travel—returning to pre-pandemic levels, primarily driven by domestic tourism.”