Canceled and delayed flight on the departure board in Terminal 4 during the government shutdown at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on Nov. 10, 2025.

The Trump administration quietly withdrew a rule proposed under former President Joe Biden that would have required airlines to pay passengers up to $775 in cash compensation for significant flight disruptions.

The rule, which was never formalized, would have created passenger protections similar to those available to travelers in Europe, which hold airlines accountable when they fail to adhere to their posted schedules.

Airlines are still required to refund passengers for canceled or some significantly delayed flights, but no longer face the prospect of being forced to pay additional compensation for passenger disruptions.

The Department of Transportation said that the move is part of its deregulatory initiative and insists that it will ultimately be in the best interest of travelers, partly because it claims that the compensation rule could have led airlines to raise ticket prices.

The change, DOT said in a statement, will "allow airlines to compete on the services and compensation that they provide to passengers rather than imposing new minimum requirements for these services and compensation through regulation, which would impose significant costs on airlines."

Democratic senators and other consumer advocates opposed the rule change. In a letter to the Trump administration sent in September, a group of senators urged the DOT to reconsider rescinding the compensation rule.

"This is a common-sense proposal: when an airline’s mistake imposes unanticipated costs on families, the airline should try to remedy the situation by providing accommodations to consumers and helping cover their costs," said the letter signed by Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal, Maria Cantwell, Ed Markey and others.

The DOT is also considering writing new rules detailing the definition of a flight cancellation that entitles consumers to ticket refunds, as well as revisiting rules on ticket pricing and advertising.

Contributing: Reuters

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DOT canceled a proposed rule that would require cash compensation for flight disruptions

Reporting by Zach Wichter, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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