The Department of Transportation Wants Fees for Lost and Delayed Baggage Refunded -- Airlines Don't

In the realm of "Ripley's Believe It or Not," is news that the airlines are vehemently opposing a proposed rule of the Department of Transportation requiring that they refund any baggage fees to passengers whose luggage they have lost. I have always assumed, and it seems indisputable, that airlines are required to refund to you the value of the contents of a suitcase they have lost (although the value of those contents is subject to dispute). But would you believe that some of them claim they have no obligation to refund the $25 and up fees that they have earlier collected for checking a first suitcase on board a flight?

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According to an Associated Press article by Scott Mayerowitz ( twitter.com/globetrotscott ) that hasn't received the attention it deserves, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has determined that the airlines should henceforth refund the $25 baggage fee not simply for luggage that is lost but also for luggage that is delivered to the passenger more than two hours late. And since there are apparently millions of suitcases each year whose delivery is delayed to that extent, the airlines are going berserk.

The Department of Transportation needs to hear support from us consumers for regulations they are promulgating in our behalf. Such comments cause them to dig in their heels and courageously face the airlines' onslaught. Among other things, the proposed regulation will require (in effect) that airlines assign a sufficient number of baggage handlers to unload and deliver luggage, which is certainly not the case now, as any passenger who has waited 40 minutes and more to get their luggage will attest. Certainly, if baggage is delayed by two hours (or lost), the least that can be done is to refund that confounded $25 luggage fee.