The Department of Transportation has entered into agreements with 18 U.S. states and territories to help police airlines' adherence to consumer-protection laws.
The agreements are designed to give more investigative power to state attorneys general, which historically have had little role to play in aviation consumer protection because federal law places oversight of airline consumer practices exclusively under the realm of the DOT.
The effort also applies to travel agencies in their role as ticket agents for airlines.
Attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New York, New Hampshire, North Carolina, the Northern Mariana Islands, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Wisconsin signed the memoranda in concert with DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Attorneys general of Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont and Washington have expressed an interest in joining the group, the DOT said.
"Consumers deserve to be treated fairly, know what they're getting, and get everything they pay for when they fly," Colorado attorney general Phil Weiser said in a prepared remark Tuesday. "This agreement and partnership with the DOT will allow my office to directly serve Colorado consumers when they file complaints about unfair or deceptive airline business practices and creates a process to ensure DOT prioritizes complaints we refer."
The DOT said more aid from state investigators will ease the burden on the DOT's Office of Aviation Consumer Protection, which has a headcount of some 40 people.
Under the partnerships, attorneys general will investigate airline complaints they receive to make preliminary determinations as to whether carriers are potentially violating federal aviation consumer protections. DOT will then fast-track misconduct cases referred by states.
The memoranda also create a formal mechanism for state attorneys general to report airlines to the DOT for failing to respond to requests for information as part of a state investigation.
And, as part of the agreements, the DOT will provide state attorneys general with access to its new consumer-complaint database.
The DOT under Buttigieg has stepped up consumer protection-related fines against airlines in addition to launching several initiatives. Still, slow enforcement has been a source of criticism among consumer advocates. For example, after fining Air Canada in November 2021 for delays in issuing refunds during the Covid crisis, the DOT did not issue its next wave of such fines against six airlines until the following November.