So what do airlines offer passengers for the inconvenience?

All U.S. airlines are required to follow through on promises made in customer service plans and to refund travelers if their flights are canceled or “significantly delayed,” according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

“Each airline has its own policies about what it will do for delayed or canceled passengers,” federal transportation officials said. “If an airline has made a commitment to provide a particular service or compensation, then the Department can hold the airline accountable.”

However, airlines only have to adhere to their customer service plans when the delays and cancellations are “controllable” — such as for maintenance or crew problems, cabin cleaning, baggage loading, and fueling, according to federal transportation officials.

When flights are delayed or canceled because of the weather, disasters or air traffic control conditions, airlines do not have to honor any promises in their customer service plans.

Even if airlines don’t have to follow through on promises of meals and hotels during uncontrollable situations, they still have to follow federal rules surrounding refunds.

If a U.S. airline cancels a flight or significantly delays takeoff — regardless of the reason — airlines are required to refund ticketed passengers if they choose not to accept the alternative offered — such as rebooking on another flight — federal officials said. This includes passengers with nonrefundable tickets.

The DOT has not specifically defined what constitutes a “significant delay,” claiming it depends on the length of the delay, the length of the flight and the passenger’s specific circumstances. Federal transportation officials review delay-based refund claims on a case-by-case basis.

Other federally protected refunds include:

Class of Service Change: A customer is entitled to a refund if they are involuntarily moved to a lower class of service. For example, if the passenger purchased a first-class ticket and was downgraded to economy class due to an aircraft swap, the consumer is owed the difference in fares.

Optional Service Fees: A consumer is entitled to a refund of fees paid for an optional service — including baggage fees, seat upgrades or in-flight Wi-Fi — if they were unable to use the optional service because of a flight cancellation, delay or schedule change or if they were involuntarily denied boarding. If passengers purchase an optional service and the amenity does not work or is not available on the flight, they are also entitled to a refund, according to the U.S. DOT.

Baggage Fees: A passenger is entitled to a refund if the customer paid a baggage fee and their luggage was lost by the airline.

• Airlines may have different policies to determine when a bag is officially lost. Most airlines will declare a bag lost between five and fourteen days after the flight.

• If an airline unreasonably refuses to consider a bag lost after it has been missing for an “unreasonable period of time,” the airline could be subject to enforcement action by the DOT.

• Airlines are also responsible for repairing or reimbursing a passenger for damaged baggage and/or its contents when the damage occurs while the bag is under the airline’s control. When the damage to the bag cannot be repaired, airlines will negotiate a compensation amount based on the value of the bag and its depreciation.

• More information about baggage policies, what airlines can restrict from their policy and how much airlines owe customers for damaged and lost bags is available on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s website.

So, if airlines have to honor their customer service plans, what does each company promise customers?

Southwest

If a flight is canceled and the airline could have prevented it, Southwest will:

• Rebook passenger on same airline at no additional cost.

• Provide meals, meal cash or meal vouchers for passengers waiting three hours or more for a new flight.

• Offer hotel accommodations and transportation to and from the airport for passengers affected by an overnight cancellation where the next available option isn’t until the next day.

• Give passengers a flight credit or travel voucher when the cancellation results in passengers waiting for a new flight three or more hours past their scheduled departure time.

If a flight is “significantly delayed” — which is determined on a case-by-case basis — passengers have essentially the same options as with cancellations.

“If you ask, we’ll give you a voucher for food at airport vendors who accept our vouchers,” Southwest officials stated. “If there’s no place to use the voucher or no vouchers available, we may honor reasonable requests for reimbursement of meal costs.”

Passengers stranded by extended overnight delays and cancellations also have to ask for hotel lodging and transportation — Southwest officials said the airline won’t announce it, but it will provide accommodations if the situation was caused by something officials “determined was within (the airline’s) control.”

To get reimbursed for meal, hotel and transportation expenses, passengers can fill out the form on Southwest’s website within one year of their flight.

Frontier

If a flight is canceled and the airline could have prevented it, or a flight is significantly delayed, Frontier will:

• Rebook the passenger on the same airline at no additional cost.

• Provide meals, meal cash or meal vouchers for passengers waiting three hours or more for a new flight.

American Airlines

If a flight is canceled and the airline could have prevented it, American Airlines will:

• Rebook the passenger on the same airline or another partner airline at no additional cost.

• Provide meals, meal cash or meal vouchers for passengers waiting three hours or more for a new flight.

• Offer hotel accommodations and transportation to and from the airport for passengers affected by an overnight cancellation where the next available option isn’t until the next day.

If a flight is “significantly delayed” – which is determined on a case-by-case basis – the options are essentially the same as with cancellations.

“If we can’t provide you with a voucher for an approved hotel, we’ll reimburse you for reasonable hotel costs,” American Airlines’ policy states. “If a hotel shuttle/third-party transportation service isn’t available, or we can’t provide you with a transportation voucher, we’ll reimburse you for reasonable transportation costs.”

The airline also has a policy for diverted flights, offering hotel accommodations, transportation and meal vouchers if a passenger’s flight is diverted to another city and they aren’t bordered to their final destination by 11:59 p.m.

“If the delay or cancellation is caused by events beyond our control (like weather), you are responsible for your own overnight accommodations, meals and incidental expenses,” airline officials stated. “If you decide not to fly because of a flight cancellation or a significant delay, you can request a refund for the remaining ticket value and related optional fees.”

If a passenger’s flight is delayed or canceled and they don’t accept American Airline’s alternative arrangements — or if none were available — the airline says it will refund the remaining ticket value and any optional fees.

“Beyond that, we have no further contractual obligation,” the airline stated in an online FAQ.

Delta

If a flight is canceled and the airline could have prevented it, Delta will:

• Rebook passengers on the same airline or another partner airline at no additional cost.

• Provide meals, meal cash or meal vouchers for passengers waiting three hours or more for a new flight.

• Offer hotel accommodations and transportation to and from the airport for passengers affected by an overnight cancellation where the next available option isn’t until the next day.

If a flight is “significantly delayed” – which is determined on a case-by-case basis – the options are essentially the same as with cancellations.

If passengers from the U.S. or Canada incur hotel, transportation and/or meal expenses because of a three or more-hour delay or a controllable cancellation, they can submit a reimbursement request using the Reimbursement Request form, according to Delta officials.

The airline said it is unable to provide meal vouchers, hotel accommodations and transportation for delays and cancellations caused by weather and air traffic control issues.

United

If a flight is canceled and the airline could have prevented it, United will:

• Rebook passengers on the same airline or another partner airline at no additional cost.

• Provide meals, meal cash or meal vouchers for passengers waiting three hours or more for a new flight.

• Offer hotel accommodations and transportation to and from the airport for passengers affected by an overnight cancellation where the next available option isn’t until the next day.

If a flight is “significantly delayed” — which is determined on a case-by-case basis — the options are essentially the same as with cancellations.

United offers refunds in cash, bank orders, bank checks and through electronic funds transfers. They can only give refunds in the form of a travel voucher with the passenger’s written agreement.

For international flights, United Airlines puts delayed and canceled flights into three different categories: flights delayed by two or more hours, flights delayed by five or more hours and flights delayed by at least eight hours or canceled altogether.

If a flight is delayed by at least two hours or a passenger is involuntarily denied boarding on a flight, the airline starts offering compensation, according to United’s Notice of Rights policy, including:

• Meals, meal cash or meal vouchers for passengers waiting three hours or more for a new flight.

• Hotel accommodations and transportation to and from the airport for passengers affected by an overnight cancelation where the next available option isn’t until the next day.

The airline says it may “limit or decline (passengers’) right to care if (the) provision of care would itself cause further delay.”

Once the delay hits five hours, passengers get to choose between two compensation options outlined in the airline’s policy.

• A refund for the full cost of the ticket for the parts of the flight not made and – if the flight “no longer serves any purpose in relation to your original travel plan” – the parts of the journey already flown. If the delay happens during a layover, United is also responsible for providing the earliest possible flight back to your home airport. Or,

• A rescheduled flight under “comparable transport conditions” to your final destination as soon as possible or at a later date that works better for passengers’ schedules. If United offers a flight to an airport nearby – but different than – your original destination, the airline is responsible for covering transportation to or near the original airport.

If the flight is delayed eight hours or canceled, United says passengers may be eligible for monetary compensation, flight vouchers or rewards points.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is proposing a new rule that would ban airlines from charging parents more to sit with their young children.

Under the proposal, released Thursday, U.S. and foreign carriers would be required to seat children ages 13 or younger next to a parent or accompanying adult for free.

If adjacent seats aren’t available when a parent books a flight, airlines would be required to let families choose between a full refund or waiting to see if a seat opens up. If seats don’t become available before other passengers begin boarding, airlines must give families the option to rebook for free on the next flight with available adjacent seating.

The Biden administration estimates the rule could save a family of four as much as $200 in seat fees for a round trip.

“Flying with children is already complicated enough without having to worry about that,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said.

Airlines for America, a trade association representing the industry, said in a statement that airlines already make an effort to accommodate families.

“Each carrier has established individual policies, and all make every effort to ensure families sit together,” the group said in a statement.

But Buttigieg said only four airlines – Alaska, American, Frontier and JetBlue – already guarantee that children ages 13 and under can sit next to an accompanying adult for free.

Congress authorized the Department of Transportation to propose a rule banning family seating fees as part of the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act, which President Joe Biden signed in May.

The legislation also raises penalties for airlines that violate consumer laws and requires the Transportation Department to publish a “dashboard” so consumers can compare seat sizes on different airlines.

The department will take comments on the proposed family seating rule for the next 60 days before it crafts a final rule.

Airlines have been pushing back against the Biden administration’s campaign to eliminate what it calls “ junk fees.”

In April, the administration issued final rules requiring airlines to automatically issue cash refunds for canceled or delayed flights and to be more upfront in disclosing the fees they charge for baggage or cancellations.

Airlines sued to block the fee rule and earlier this week, a three-judge panel on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily stopped it from taking effect, ruling that it “likely exceeds” the agency’s authority. The judges granted a request by airlines to halt the rule while their lawsuit plays out.

Asked whether the family seating rule could face the same fate, Buttigieg noted that the Transportation Department also has the backing of Congress, which authorized the rule.

“Any rule we put forward, we are confident it is well-founded in our authorities,” Buttigieg said during a conference call to discuss the family seating rule.

___

This story was first published on Aug. 1, 2024. It was updated on Aug. 2, 2024 to correct the U.S. Department of Transportation rule that airlines challenged in court. It was over the disclosure of feeds, not customer refunds.

The first closure downtown, off Southwest Second Street, began earlier this week and is scheduled to end Friday. Another closure soon coming up will be at Broward Boulevard and the Florida East Coast Railway tracks. It is scheduled to last from 6 p.m. Saturday through midnight Tuesday.

“It’s going to be an impactful week,” said Vanessa Boschulte, who has driven from Dania Beach to her job as an accounting clerk for Broward County for the past 20 years.

“Even if you plan ahead, there’s not much you can do,” Boschulte said. “There’s one option and it’s these tiny roads, and everybody’s on that same option.”

The Florida Department of Transportation is closing the crossings, one by one, to accommodate repairs. “The closure is needed to allow workers to safely perform necessary repairs to the railroad crossing,” according to an advisory published on the city’s website. “Workers will rehabilitate the existing track to repair defective rails and replace the crossing surface to improve ride quality.”

The Broward Boulevard railroad crossing is near the county’s central bus terminal, just south of the Brightline Fort Lauderdale station.

Detour signs will direct Broward Boulevard drivers to Sunrise Boulevard to the north and Davie Boulevard to the south.

Heads up, #FTL commuters! @MyFDOT_SEFL will be closing Broward Blvd at the Florida East Coast Railway (@fecrwy) crossing, just west of Andrews Ave, starting at 6 PM Saturday, August 3, through midnight Tuesday, August 6.

The closure is needed so workers can repair the crossing… pic.twitter.com/8ZS4JdZXPD

— City of Fort Lauderdale (@FTLCityNews) July 31, 2024

The road closures and traffic delays are nothing new to the many commuters who drive into downtown Fort Lauderdale for work. Similar railroad-related closures have happened before.

Mae Smith, a commuter from Lauderhill, said the weekend closures won’t affect her since she’s off work then. But she’s ready for the changes next week. “When Monday, Tuesday comes around, I’m just going to take Sixth Street all the way to work.”

Smith, currently employed at the property appraiser’s office, has worked in Fort Lauderdale for nearly 25 years, and has her detour down to a science, she said.

In the coming days, the following crossing closures are scheduled:

— SW Ninth Street: 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 5, to midnight Wednesday, Aug. 7.
— SW 15th Street: 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 7, to midnight Aug. 9.
— SW 17th Street: 6 p.m. Aug. 11 to Aug. 13.

DETROIT (AP) — U.S. auto safety regulators say they stand by a conclusion that more than 50 million air bag inflators are dangerous and should not be in use, taking another step toward a massive recall.

The decision Wednesday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration involves inflators made by ARC Automotive Inc. in Tennessee and another parts manufacturer. It comes despite opposition from automakers.

The inflators in about 49 million vehicles from 13 manufacturers can explode and hurl shrapnel into drivers and passengers.

The agency has said the inflators are responsible for at least seven injuries and two deaths in the United States and Canada since 2009.

NHTSA said seven of the inflators have blown apart in the field in the U.S., each showing evidence of insufficient welds or too much pressure in a canister designed to contain the explosion and fill the air bags in a crash.

In addition, the agency said 23 of the inflators have ruptured in testing with causes common to the inflators that blew apart in the field. Also, four inflators have ruptured outside the U.S., killing at least one person, the agency said.

“To be sure, the overwhelming majority of the subject inflators will not rupture upon deployment,” NHSTA wrote. “However, based on the evidence linking past ruptures to the same friction welding process, all of the subject inflators are at risk of rupturing.”

Multiple automakers argued in public comments that NHTSA did not establish a safety defect and that none of the millions of inflators in their vehicles have ruptured.

But NHTSA said the only way to know which of the ARC-designed inflators will blow apart is for them to deploy in a crash. The federal motor vehicle safety act “does not allow such a defect to go unaddressed,” the agency said.

The agency will take comments again for 30 days, then use them to make a final decision on whether to pursue the massive recall. The government could wind up suing ARC in an effort to force a recall.

A message was left Wednesday seeking comment from ARC of Knoxville.

Regulators asked ARC in April of 2023 to recall the inflators, but the company refused to issue a full-scale recall, setting the stage for the possible court fight.

NHTSA held a public hearing on the dispute last October, where it appeared ready to seek the recall due to a manufacturing flaw that could send metal shrapnel rocketing through a car’s interior.

At the heart of the issue is the metal inflator canister inside the airbag device. The government contends that a crucial flaw could cause this canister to “rupture” upon impact. Instead of releasing pressurized gas to inflate the air bag, the canister essentially explodes, sending metal shrapnel into the vehicle at head height.

NHTSA contends that byproducts from welding during manufacturing can clog a vent in the canister that is designed to let gas escape to quickly fill air bags. In the defective products, pressure can build to the point where the canister is blown apart.

Injuries caused by the shrapnel can be gruesome, and the inflators pose an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death to drivers and passengers, the agency has said.

But ARC and many automakers oppose a recall, with several manufacturers saying the problem happens so infrequently that NHTSA has not established that a safety defect exists.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, a unit of Stellantis, for instance, wrote in comments that there has never been an inflator rupture in an FCA vehicle that matches NHTSA’s theory on why the inflators are defective. The company said it has 4.9 million older vehicles on the road with driver and passenger inflators made by ARC.

An inflator in a 2002 Chrysler Town and Country minivan did blow apart in 2009, but ARC determined this one had a unique cause not found in other ruptures, FCA wrote. “In the 14 years following that event, there have been no further incidents in an FCA U.S. vehicle,” the company wrote.

Vehicles from BMW, Stellantis, Ford, General Motors, Hyundai, Jaguar-Land Rover, Kia, Maserati, Mercedes, Porsche, Tesla, Toyota, and Volkswagen all have inflators made by ARC or parts supplier Delphi. A complete list of vehicles with the inflators has not been released. Delphi made about 11 million of the inflators under license from ARC.

Automakers have issued smaller recalls of ARC inflators over the years, with GM leading the way at more than 1 million vehicles. The smaller recalls, NHTSA said, were done on the premise that there was a manufacturing problem during a short time at a particular factory.

But NHTSA said its investigation showed that ruptures happened in inflators made across time periods, plants and manufacturing lines “thus warranting a broader recall.”

Speaking on CNBC, Bastian said Wednesday that the monetary amount represents lost revenue as well as “the tens of millions of dollars per day in compensation and hotels” for the five-day period.

A week ago, CrowdStrike blamed a bug in an update that allowed its cybersecurity systems to push bad data out to millions of customer computers, setting off the global tech outage that grounded flights, took TV broadcasts off air and disrupted banks, hospitals and retailers.

Delta, other airlines struggle to restore travel schedules after cyber outage

Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike also outlined measures it will take to prevent the problem from recurring, including staggering the rollout of updates, giving customers more control over when and where they occur, and providing more details about the updates that it plans.

Among airlines, Delta was by far the hardest hit hard by the outage, having to cancel thousands of flights, because key systems were crippled by the incident.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating why Delta failed to recover as quickly as other airlines. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said last week that the department would also examine Delta’s customer service, including “unacceptable” lines for assistance and reports that unaccompanied minors were stranded at airports.

Bastian said on CNBC that Delta will be seeking damages from the disruptions. CrowdStrike has not made any offers to help Delta financially so far, he added. It has offered free consulting advice.

Starting next month, the company, which is headquartered in Dania Beach and is the leading airline in passengers carried at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, said it will roll out a four-part fare schedule that in many instances will wrap free snacks, free checked bags and even free Wi-Fi into the ticket price. The new program effectively ends the airline’s exclusive reliance on a rock-bottom fare scheme that forced passengers to buy ancillary services a la carte, although the bare-bones ticket option will remain as one of the fare categories.

“We listened to our Guests and are excited to deliver what they want: choices for an elevated experience and provide unparalleled value,” CEO and president Ted Christie said in a statement issued by Spirit early Tuesday.

The effort comes after a federal judge earlier this year blocked Spirit’s proposed $3.8 billion acquisition by JetBlue Airways on antitrust grounds. Now faced with a future as an independent carrier, Spirit is struggling to reverse a run of financial losses while it renegotiates its debt, works through a series of aircraft engine recalls and faces heavier competition from rivals that are encroaching on Spirit’s traditional markets such as Florida.

Late next month, Spirit’s recalibrated fare structure will look this way:

• “Go Big” will include an option focused on the airline’s so-called Big Front Seats, a series of roomier seats that have occupied the front of its Airbus jetliners for several years. Previously, the airline has charged for solely booking the seat. Now the proposition will include free Wi-Fi, a checked bag, one piece of onboard luggage, and “unlimited” snacks and drinks including those with alcohol.
• “Go Comfy”  will offer a standard seat with a vacant middle seat next to it to provide passengers with extra space. The offer includes earlier boarding, a snack, a nonalcoholic beverage, and checked baggage and a carry-on.
• “Go Savvy” tickets will allow customers either a checked bag or a carry-on.
• “Go” largely will be Spirit’s original standard bare-bones ticket, where travelers buy their seat but pay additional fees for checked bags, seat selection, Wi-Fi and snacks.

All passengers will be allowed free booking changes.

Passengers can start booking tickets under the new program Aug.16 for flights Aug. 27 and beyond. On the day customers start flying under the new menu, Spirit will offer a dedicated, priority check-in line for its “Go Big” fliers, as well as for the carrier’s Free Spirit Gold members, or Free Spirit World Elite Mastercard holders at 20 airports.

The airline also said it will continue its practice of allowing for cancellations and flight changes at no charge. while increasing the weight limit for checked bags to 50 pounds from the previous allowance of 40 pounds.

It will also extend the expiration time period for future travel vouchers to full year.

Fighting back

Henry Harteveldt, a San Francisco-based travel industry analyst and president of Atmosphere Research Group, said he “commends” Spirit for the move and predicted the airline may draw customers from bigger airlines including United, Delta, American and Southwest. They are the so-called industry “big four” that JetBlue and Spirit assailed as the two carriers unsuccessfully sought to make their case in federal court to combine forces through the proposed takeover.

“United is attacking Spirit in particular, being very aggressive with its use of basic economy fares to steal brand-new flyers,” Harteveldt said. “Spirit is saying, ‘we’ll give the big airlines a taste of their own medicine.’”

“It will be interesting to see how consumers respond,” he added.

“These changes will convince some travelers who are unhappy with what [bigger] airlines offer,” Harteveldt said. “If they like it maybe they will return and become more loyal to Spirit, especially with the ‘Go Comfy’ and ‘Go Big’ products.”

“I know everyone likes to make fun of Spirit,” he said. “The truth is, Spirit is a reliable airline. It has very dedicated employees.”

But inflation has been taking its toll on lower-income consumers who seek out discount fares, with some flying less than they did when the COVID-19 pandemic receded. Some aren’t flying at all, which is a bad sign for airlines that rely on bargain-hunting travelers.

Only time will tell whether Spirit’s initiative pays dividends.

Its announcement came two days before a scheduled financial conference call with industry analysts on Thursday, when management discloses second-quarter financial results.

In a regulatory filing two weeks ago, the airline warned it expects an adjusted operating loss of $160 million to $173 million, which is wider than an earlier forecast of $121 million to $145 million. Revenues were expected to come in at $1.28 billion, a decline from its previous forecast of $1.32 billion to $1.34 billion.

The revised lawsuit, filed last week in federal court in Tallahassee, alleges that the Federal Highway Administration has violated a law known as the Administrative Procedure Act by not making a timely decision about whether the companies would be prevented from working on federally funded projects.

The lawsuit was initially filed in March by nine companies and their owner, Linda Figg. The companies are affiliated with FIGG Bridge Engineers, Inc., which designed the Miami-Dade County pedestrian bridge that collapsed in 2018, crushing cars and killing five motorists and one construction worker.

FIGG Bridge Engineers was blocked in 2021 from working on federally funded projects until 2029. The revised lawsuit said that in September 2023, the federal agency notified Figg and the affiliated companies of a proposal to keep them off federally funded projects, or what is known as “debarment.”

Figg and the affiliated companies filed a response Nov. 13, and the lawsuit said the federal agency was required to make a decision within 45 days.

“Plaintiffs are being adversely affected by defendants’ failure to act or unreasonable delay in announcing a decision regarding debarment of plaintiffs,” the revised lawsuit said.

Judge Allen Winsor on July 10 dismissed the initial version of the case but left open the possibility the plaintiffs could revise it.

“Exiting a market is a difficult decision and we were privileged to have served Tallahassee,” according to a statement the airline distributed last week. “We are doing this to make investments in other parts of our network.”

The action represents a far cry from the company’s expectations upon announcing the service last year, when an executive said, “the response in Florida to this much-needed connection between the state capital and South Florida has been incredible.”

For JetBlue, the route was the leading edge of a proposed 250-flight-a-day operating plan announced in 2023 that envisioned Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport as a centerpiece player in a Florida-centric network of operations after JetBlue bought out South Florida-based Spirit Airlines. But in the the end, the $3.8 billion buyout of Spirit never came to pass as a Boston federal judge blocked the takeover on antitrust grounds.

After several months of operating a daily northbound and a daily southbound flight between Fort Lauderdale and the state capital, JetBlue said the route was “underperforming.”

“JetBlue will reduce flying on underperforming routes across its network, with a focus on improving reliability of the airline’s operation,” the airline said in a statement.

The last Tallahassee flights to land and take off from the state capital will be Oct. 27. Customers who bought tickets for travel after that date will receive refunds, the airline said.

After the JetBlue flights cease, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Silver Airways will be the carriers serving Tallahassee International Airport.

Besides Tallahassee, JetBlue said it is also halting service to the following destinations in its network:

• Burbank, California
• Charlotte, North Carolina
• Guadaloupe (Caribbean)
• Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
• Palm Springs, California
• San Antonio, Texas

Both JetBlue and Spirit have been struggling to cope with financial losses that have dogged them sinceduring the COVID-19 pandemic.

Joanna Geraghty, the new JetBlue CEO, has sought to weed out routes that don’t make money and find destinations where JetBlue can wield an advantage over other carriers.

In March, the company announced what amounted to be a first round of cuts from its network.

New England / New York to Florida surge

JetBlue is now focusing on expanding service out of Boston, where it has operated for two decades, as well as Providence, Rhode Island; Hartford, Connecticut; Portland, Maine; Manchester, New Hampshire; and Buffalo, New York. Flights are being added from Boston to Florida destinations including Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Miami, Orlando, Fort Myers, Sarasota and Tampa.

The airline is also targeting various Caribbean destinations from Boston.

The company is also adding service across Upstate New York in Albany, the state capital, and Buffalo and Syracuse. It expects to launch nonstop service from Buffalo to Palm Beach International Airport, for example, in October.

“Buffalo and Albany will each see a second daily flight added this winter to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, while Syracuse will get the convenience of a second daily flight to Orlando,” the airline said.

In October, JetBlue expects to launch service for the first time from Long Island MacArthur Airport at Islip, New York, four-times weekly flights to Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. with daily flights to Orlando.

By February, JetBlue added, it expects to be operating 225 daily flights from Florida, “bringing the airline’s average peak daily departures from the state up eight percent compared to the same time last year.”

Whether a driver is trying to go south on Interstate 95 toward Miami or north toward West Palm Beach, they only have one light before getting onto an on-ramp.

That’s one of the differences diverging diamond interchanges have in comparison with more conventional intersections. They may seem wacky at first — so much so that first-time users may feel as though they are about to drive on the wrong side of the road. But the Florida Department of Transportation is bringing more of these configurations to South Florida over the next several years.

The first one in Palm Beach County was completed a little more than a year ago at I-95 and Glades Road. Four more of them are planned in the county over the next several years, with the next one set to start construction at I-95 and Lantana Road. Broward and Miami-Dade counties also have DDI’s in the works.

FDOT says these interchanges are safer than traditional ones because they reduce speeds and cut out the need for the traditional left turns onto the interstate most drivers are used to.

As defined by the transportation department, a diamond interchange “allows the two directions of traffic on the crossroad to temporarily divide and cross to the opposite side to gain access to and from the freeway more easily.”

Among the diverging diamonds built so far across Florida are ones in Manatee County in 2017, Brevard County in 2019, Miami-Dade County in 2018 and 2019, and Nassau County in 2020, according to the transportation department.

DDI benefits include reduced time sitting in intersection traffic, lower driver speeds and fewer “conflict points” for cars and pedestrians.

Cesar Martinez, FDOT’s district planning and environmental administrator, said conflict points happen “when a vehicle is making a left turn or a right turn and at some point, it has the potential to conflict with another vehicle in a different direction.”

“On a normal interchange, what we call a conventional diamond, when you’re making a left turn out of a ramp, there’s a potential if someone runs the red light, then you can collide with them,” he said.

The off-ramps force drivers to follow a curve, which Martinez said slows drivers down as they approach the ramp’s traffic light. The thinking is that if someone does decide to blow the light, either while already driving on Glades Road or coming in from the I-95 ramp, their speed will likely be reduced, meaning that any possible crashes will have reduced severity.

DDI’s have “somewhat of a traffic-calming effect,” Martinez said, adding: “If someone is driving at 60 mph, we’ll have a totally different experience than someone crashing at 25 mph.”

Now, Martinez noted that if someone decides to drive recklessly through a DDI, FDOT has installed extra safety measures to curb potential harm.

If someone somehow misses the many “wrong way” and “do not enter” signs and begins driving the opposite direction, FDOT’s wrong-way detection system will sense the vehicle, alert the driver they are going the wrong direction through flashing lights, and notify law enforcement, the Traffic Management Center and Florida Highway Patrol. The agencies will then try to find the driver and stop them before they crash into anything.

A “formal evaluation” has not yet been conducted to determine if crashes have been reduced at the Glades Road DDI, but a DDI in Jacksonville along I-95, which opened in 2020, has seen a reduction from 5.4 annual crashes to 1.4.

For a lot of people, “this was the first time they had ever even seen something like this,” said Andrea Pacini, an FDOT spokesperson. “There was a learning curve, but then just like anything else, people drove it and they’re like, ‘Oh, this is faster, and it does work better.'”

Future diverging diamonds

Over the next several years, at least four new diverging diamond interchanges are scheduled for Palm Beach County. DDI’s typically have three phases: planning, development and environmental, design, and construction, each of which takes a couple of years to complete with the whole process possibly taking up to a decade.

Here are the projects on tap in the county:

— DDI at Lantana Road is in the design phase, and construction is expected to begin in 2027.

— DDI at 10th Avenue North in Lake Worth Beach is in the design phase, and construction is expected to begin in 2030.

— DDI at Hypoluxo Road is in the design phase and is expected to begin construction in 2031.

— DDI at Linton Boulevard is in the planning phase and is expected to begin construction in 2031.

Drivers can still use these interchanges during construction, though FDOT has had to shut down intersections for entire weekends in the past, Pacini said.

Martinez said the Federal Highway Administration has been promoting these types of interchanges, which is why they have begun to take off in Florida in the last couple of years. Nearly 50 DDI’s are at some phase of the process across the state.

“The overall feedback has been positive, and people are realizing that it is safer, and it is faster,” Pacini said.

In a recently released monthly ridership report to investors for June, the company said  total ridership was 223,369 at an average fare of $55, with long-haul customer numbers rising month over month to a record of 139,307 passengers “due to growing repeat customers as our service to Orlando ramps up.”

“In June, repeat customers booked over 60,000 long-haul trips, a 7% ratio of our marketable database of approximately 860,000 individuals as of June 1,” the report said.

But short-haul ridership consisting of commuters sharply declined to  84,062 versus 149,536 in June 2023, reflecting “ongoing seat capacity constraints and the discontinuation of our commuter pass product in June.”

Brightline management has repeatedly said that its ultimate goal was to attract long-haul passengers traveling between South and Central Florida.

The company started service in 2018 with a focus on stations in West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami. It later added stations at Boca Raton and Aventura in north Miami-Dade County before it completed and opened its long-awaited 170-mile extension to Orlando International Airport in September of last year. It has since elected to add stations in Stuart and Cocoa long the extension to Central Florida.

Focus on original business plan

Since the Orlando startup, the company has shifted its capacity to focus on more lucrative long-haul trips, essentially reducing short-haul traffic due to the limitation of available train sets. The company has said it is ordering more, with initial reinforcements coming later this year.

The rail line has been offering daily discounts during its recent “Brightweek” on fares from Aug. 2 to Oct. 15 between Orlando and South Florida.

The shift in emphasis has drawn substantial criticism from patrons who signed up as regular South Florida-oriented passengers. Many had become inter-county commuters from their homes to workplaces, using monthly passes that offered discounts.

The shift to Orlando has also incurred a heavy dose of new operating expenses, incurring a first quarter loss of $116 million despite a strong surge in revenues driven by the Central Florida segment. The company had a net loss of $306.68 million in 2023 on higher operating and interest expenses

A company spokesman did not immediately respond to questions concerning the emphasis on Orlando.

Still, the company expects a strong upside in passengers as it takes deliveries of additional equipment and works out a variety of joint marketing initiatives with cruise lines, airlines and travel agencies.

“We expect our ridership to grow meaningfully in the coming months as a result of the additional seat capacity coming online, ongoing organic growth, and a series of key initiatives,” Brightline said in its report.  “We believe the combination of capacity additions and the successful implementation of … initiatives positions us to carry in excess of 400,000 passengers per month initially and approach our stabilized goal of approximately 650,000 passengers per month (or 8 million per year) in 2026.”

The report cited three initiatives with three travel-related industries:

• Cruise Lines: The report estimates there are more than 1 2 million annual cruise passengers departing from Port Everglades and PortMiami. “We estimate that 25% of these passengers originate by car from points north of our system and could use our service, for a total addressable market of 3 million roundtrips annually, or 500,000 one-way trips per month.” The company said it has “co-marketing partnerships” with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Princess Cruise lines, “with several others in discussion.” The partnership with Princess includes baggage service for their passengers arriving through Orlando International Airport, “at which point Princess Cruise coordinates with Brightline to take the passengers baggage and deliver it directly to their cruise cabin.”
• Theme parks: “The top three primary theme park companies enjoy 90 million gate visits per year, with an estimated 4.9 million one-way annual trips originating from South Florida,” the report said. “We are in discussions with all major Orlando theme park companies on co-marketing agreements.” The arrangements involve the parks promoting Brightline “through website, email and social media.”
• Airlines: The report notes that the international airports in Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Orlando serve a combined 85 million passengers annually, raising the possibility of partnerships with Brightline that “would allow [airlines] to offer their customers a convenient ‘interline’ connection to our 5 stations in South Florida.”

Advocates encouraged

“This is the beginning of the rail revolution,” said Andy Kunz, president and CEO of the U.S. High Speed Rail Association in Washington, an industry advocacy group. “For long-distance trains this is the first time we’ve invested something new since the original rail system was built.”

“Internally they’ve said it’s already profitable if you weren’t writing down the cost of the tracks,” he added.

In May, Brightline Holdings CEO P. Michael Reininger  told a CNBC interviewer at an association-sponsored conference in Washington that Brightline was making profits from its operations and expects to do the same with its $12 billion Brightline West high-speed train project between Las Vegas, Nevada, and Southern California.

“Our business has built rapidly since we launched the Orlando-Miami service and we are now generating profits off the operation in Florida,” Reininger said. “We recently received an investment grade rating for our operation in Florida and consequently have refinanced our investment stack there.”

In April, the company broke ground for Brightline West, which would see electric trains traveling up to 200 mph, well above the top speed of 125 mph reached by Brightline trains along the Cocoa-Orlando leg in Florida. The Brightline West project is financed differently than the one in Florida, which is backed by private investors. It was awarded $3 billion from the Biden Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure program. The $9 billion balance will be privately funded via private activity bonds from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

As for the prospects for Brightline West, Reininger said: “We wouldn’t be investing $9 billion of private capital in Brightline West if we weren’t highly confident that it’s also going to be a profitable business.”

Shortly before Reininger made those remarks in May, the credit rating firm S&P Global gave $2.219 billion in senior secured debt for Brightline Trains Florida a lukewarm “BBB-” rating with a “stable” outlook. The firm assigned an “AA” rating to another $1.133 billion of bonds that are guaranteed by an insurer. The analysts noted the company has sufficient financial reserves and growth prospects to navigate through what they termed as a “ramp-up” period that runs through 2028.

“Brightline notes that total daily bookings have increased by about 52% to approximately 4,300 in February 2024 from about 2,800 in October 2023,” S&P Global analysts wrote in a report in early May. “Notably, repeat long-distance bookings have increased at a rate of about 15% month-over-month during this period. These figures should continue to climb as Brightline captures more of its addressable market and strengthens its distribution network. As competing highway networks become more congested and Brightline’s customer base grows, the value proposition of rail travel should further improve.”