Failed-airline protection is now a law of the past

As reported by Ed Perkins, at the Chicago Tribune, “The law requiring surviving airlines to carry travelers with tickets on any failed line expired and Congress did not extend it. If you hold a ticket on a line that fails, you can usually get your money back. But other airlines are no longer required to accommodate you – what air service you can get is strictly voluntary on the part of those lines.The risk of airline failure has diminished greatly since the original law was passed, and I haven’t seen much about the question in the last year or two. But the recent failure of all-business-class Maxjet should remind you that even when most big lines are making money, some airlines can be risky. And the combination of factors that killed Maxjet – high fuel costs, credit problems and a cloudy market outlook – could strike other financially weak airlines. Even though the law expired, the problem definitely did not.” Read more>>

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