By RIO YAMAT, Associated Press

The U.S. Department of Transportation has issued new guidance telling airlines they do not have to cover passenger expenses, such as meals or hotel stays, when flight cancellations or long delays are caused by aircraft recalls.

The guidance, released on Wednesday, comes after widespread disruptions last month amid the busy Thanksgiving travel period in the U.S. stemming from inspections and software updates that carriers had to perform immediately for safety reasons on a widely used Airbus commercial aircraft. About 6,000 planes were impacted.

Airlines worldwide scrambled to fix a computer code issue that may have contributed to a sudden drop in altitude on a JetBlue plane in October, which injured at least 15 people. Airbus said an examination of the JetB

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