What Travelers Should Expect From the Biden Administration
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your Money Briefing for Wednesday, November 18th. I'm J.R. Whalen for The Wall Street Journal.
How will the Biden administration prioritize transportation funding and regulation?
A major agenda item for the incoming Biden administration is increasing funding and making improvements to the transportation industry. Among the likely priorities, new rules governing air travel.
Which air-travel rules might change for quarantines, testing, and vaccines?
What the rules are going to be on quarantining, what the rules are going to be on testing people, what the rules are going to be when there's a vaccine and how you deal with people who are vaccinated.
More rules and funding are likely to extend to roads and rails as well. So what should travelers expect from the next four years? Our Middle Sea columnist Scott McCartney will join us to talk specifics after the break.
Be it planes, trains, or automobiles, the transportation industry is likely to get a lot of attention from the incoming Biden administration. That could include an injection of both cash and more regulations. So how might all this affect travelers? Our Middle Sea columnist Scott McCartney has been looking into it, and he's here with details. Scott, thanks for joining us.
Good to be with you, JR.
So is there a consensus that transportation is going to be a priority under the Biden administration?
Yeah, very much so. And it goes beyond the president-elect's fondness for Amtrak. Transportation will deal with infrastructure. It'll deal with climate issues. So there will be lots of projects, lots of spending, lots of money involved.
Will the Department of Transportation increase oversight of airlines and refunds?
Okay, we'll get to infrastructure in a moment, but you've discussed at length the frustration that people have had with airlines during the pandemic, namely trying to get refunds from plans changing and from canceled flights. Do you think there'll be more oversight to smooth things out?
Yeah, I think there will be action on that just because so many people are outraged by it and airlines have flaunted U.S. regulations. So I think there will be in the Department of Transportation a new focus on customer issues. We just haven't seen any action on that for the last four years. So even things like rules for emotional support animals, those were proposed but haven't been enacted yet. And so, you know, that's an open question. There are open questions on evacuation safety, seat dimensions, cockpit barriers, a lot of issues that affect travelers that I think will have to be addressed soon.
And then there's some other COVID-19 related issues as well. Like, how about tougher rules that mandate people wear a mask when they're on a plane?
Right. You know, I think President-elect Biden has made it clear that he's in favor of a mask mandate, a federal mask mandate. One of the few places that the federal government can have immediate impact on that is on airplanes because that's federal jurisdiction. And so I think we will see a mask mandate. And frankly, the airlines have their rules set
Could federal mask mandates and enforcement on planes become stricter?
But compliance has been spotty, as we've seen. And they think part of that is that the airlines can say, hey, we're going to put you on our no-fly list. If you're only flying once, you don't really care. That's not much enforcement. But if it's a federal rule and there's a federal penalty, then the employees will have an easier time enforcing it because there's real consequences behind it.
Now, what have you heard from industry officials about how the U.S. could use the post 9-11 period, you know, sort of as a blueprint to make some changes to the aviation industry going forward?
Yeah, I think one thing that has to happen worldwide is some agreement on what the rules are going to be on quarantining, what the rules are going to be on testing people, what the rules are going to be when there's a vaccine and how you deal with people who are vaccinated. And just there has to be common agreement on what's safe, but also what's practical as we move forward to sort of restart international travel. And I think 9-11 is a good example of what can happen. This is an opportunity for the U.S. to lead as it did with security issues after 9-11 and said, OK, this is what we're going to do in terms of limiting liquids.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:05–0:10
2
How will the Biden administration prioritize transportation funding and regulation?
0:10–0:21
3
Which air-travel rules might change for quarantines, testing, and vaccines?
0:21–1:31
4
Will the Department of Transportation increase oversight of airlines and refunds?
1:31–2:58
5
Could federal mask mandates and enforcement on planes become stricter?
2:58–4:36
6
How might the U.S. lead global rules for post‑COVID international travel?
4:36–6:28
7
What infrastructure and mass‑transit investments can travelers expect?
6:28–7:13
8
Is additional funding likely for Amtrak and critical rail tunnels in the Northeast?
7:13–7:25
Speakers
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