When your flight is delayed, airlines might cover meals, hotels, or even compensation under certain laws. But that’s just the surface cost. Many travelers are quietly absorbing hundreds — sometimes thousands — in additional expenses: lost wages, missed connections, extra childcare, nonrefundable hotel nights, and the stress that no voucher can fix. This “delay tax” is arguably the true cost of a system that’s constantly running late. I'm investigating how much these hidden costs really add up, who bears them, and whether current passenger compensation rules even come close to covering the losses. Should airlines be responsible for more than a sandwich and a hotel voucher when their operations grind to a halt? From travelers, I'd love to know: Have you ever faced major out-of-pocket losses from a delay or cancellation — expenses the airline wouldn’t cover? What did it end up costing you, and how did the airline respond? From experts and insiders: How do airlines calculate “reasonable compensation,” and what’s excluded from those definitions? Are regulators underestimating the true economic impact of chronic delays on consumers — and what would it take to fix that?

posted10/13/2025

deadline10/16/2025

processing

published