Air Travel Just Got Less Hellish Thanks to the Biden Administration

Air travel in America is a special slice of hell, basically, everyone knows that. There’s a whole niche of influencers out there whose sole purpose in life is to tell you what your rights are in the event of a travel delay, and anyone who’s flown in the past three years knows there have been plenty of those to go around. Well, good news friends: The Biden Administration launched a site to let you know of your specific rights, on each carrier, when a delay occurs. Seriously. It’s pretty cool!

The site is incredibly easy to use, too. You simply select your airline and you can see the policy on family seating, cancellations, and delays. Just in time for all the summer holiday travel … and looming pilot strikes. Yes, strikes. Never a dull moment, is it? Per Afar.com:

It’s been a busy week for disgruntled airline pilots. American Airlines pilots on Monday [May 1] voted in favor of authorizing a strike, and that same day Southwest Airlines pilots kicked off the process for authorizing a possible strike as well.

“We will strike if necessary,” Captain Ed Sicher, president of the Allied Pilots Association, which represents 15,000 American Airlines pilots, said in a statement on Monday. More than 99 percent of participating pilots voted in favor of authorizing a strike.

So the good news is, if there’s a strike, you can definitely recoup some sweet benefits from the airlines, because that’s not a weather-related delay, and thus, they will have to pay out for inconveniences, according to the dashboard. The bad news is, well, an airline strike would really bone up travel, wouldn’t it?! Don’t worry though, apparently by law there are a lot of steps that legally have to happen before it’s allowed to come to that, per the above source:

While the notion of a pilot strike is certainly worrisome for fliers, the recent votes from pilots are not likely to lead to walkouts anytime soon, the Associated Press reports.

“Federal law prohibits airline unions from striking without the approval of a U.S. mediation board—a rare step that has not occurred with negotiations at either American or Southwest. Congress and the president can also act to prevent a strike if one appears imminent,” reports David Koenig of AP.

Indeed, there are numerous steps that would need to be exhausted, according to the Railway Labor Act, before a strike would be possible.

So, really, this is sort of a good news/bad news type of situation. The good news is, if you get delayed while flying now, there’s a handy dandy government website that tells you what, if anything, an airline has to do for you and as an added bonus, you no longer have to be separated from your children while flying! The bad news is, well, there could be a looming pilot’s strike on the way. That’s just life in America, always some disaster on the horizon, but hey—look at the bright side: At least there’s a new Twilight TV show coming. That’s good news. At least for me!

(featured image: welcomeinside/Getty Images)