Comment from Elizabeth Caucci

Current regulatory framework concerning passenger compensation in U.S. commercial air travel is woefully inadequate and has caused a significant decline in the overall US domestic travel experience. This deficiency has enabled airlines to frequently prioritize their operation convenience over passenger commitments, leading to a pervasive sense of unreliability and eroding public trust in air travel. Without meaningful repercussion for service failures, the quality of domestic air travel has become a miserable experience. My personal experience was my direct flight from San Juan to Philadelphia on AA, originally scheduled of a 3PM arrival was made into a long and painful experience. Citing internal staffing issues, there was no weather delays, the flight endured continuous delays, culminating in an unscheduled midnight layover in Miami, in a closed terminal (no food and beverages available), with a final arrival in Philadelphia at 5AM. This was done solely for the airline's operational benefit, completely disregarding my original itinerary and personal schedule. My compensation for this disruption was 5,000 miles completely disproportionate to the level of inconvenience and personal cost of an entire plane full of passengers. Airlines can impose substantial burdens on passengers with minimal accountability and highlights a critical flaw in current consumer protection policies. There is an urgent need for more robust regulations that mandate fair and substantial compensation for airline-initiated disruptions and passenger inconveniences. European regulations are more firmly rooted in consumer protection, demonstrably resulting in a significantly better travel experience for its citizens. Without such regulations, US commercial air travel will continue its downward spiral.