Airline Meltdowns Spur Customers’ Fury, So What Can Congress Do?

Delta Air Lines’ inability to recover quickly after a global IT outage reignited frustration from regulators, lawmakers and their constituents about passengers’ woes when caught in an airline service meltdown.

Now, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and lawmakers are turning to one of the few major bipartisan measures Congress was able to enact this year that codified requirements for refunds to force airlines to give cash back. Buttigieg told airline executives in a letter last month that airlines must abide by the law and wouldn’t be given extra time to do so.

“Given that it has been nearly three months since ...