Biden Botches His Own New Website, Twice: 'Flightsright.gov' (May 8, 2023)

President Joe Biden had one new thing to announce for frustrated air travelers, and he got its name wrong twice. “First, we just launched a new website: flightsright.gov. Flightsright.gov,” he said. The website was FlightRights.gov, as the White House noted in brackets when it published the official transcript.

The video above shows the flub from Biden’s May 8, 2023, remarks on airline consumer protections in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House. Quotes are from the official transcript published by the American Presidency Project, which marks the White House’s corrections [1].

”Flightsright.gov. Flightsright.gov.”

“And I’m proud to announce two critical steps that my administration is taking to protect American air passengers,” Biden said. “First, we just launched a new website: flightsright.gov [flightrights.gov; White House correction]. Flightsright.gov [flightrights.gov]. It features a dashboard we created last fall to give travelers more transparency into airlines’ compensation policies” [1].

The real address took travelers to the Transportation Department’s Airline Customer Service Dashboard [2]. “If you look at the dashboard today, you’ll find that only two airlines guarantee additional compensation beyond the ticket refund,” Biden said [1].

It was not the only correction. Later in the speech he called on Congress to pass “the Junk Free [Fee; White House correction] Prevention Act,” his proposal to crack down on hidden surcharges [1].

The Promise: Make Airlines Pay

The second step was the big one. “Later this year, my administration will propose a historic new rule that will make it mandatory—not voluntary, but mandatory—for all U.S. airlines to compensate you with meals, hotels, taxis, ride shares, or rebooking—and rebooking—fees, and cash, miles, and/or travel vouchers whenever they are the ones to blame for the cancellation or delay,” Biden said [1].

He pointed overseas. “Airline passengers in Canada, for example, and the European Union and other places already get these compensations. And guess what? It works,” he said [1].

He also claimed credit for changes the airlines had already made. “Now, 9 major airlines cover hotels, 10 cover meals, 10 rebook for free,” he said, adding that American, Alaska and Frontier had agreed to let parents sit with their children without paying extra after his State of the Union [1].

”Like a Piece of Baggage”

Biden spent much of the speech on fees. “At my State of the Union Address, I pointed out, airlines charging up to $50 a ticket just so you could sit next to your child,” he said. “Airlines can’t just treat a child like a piece of baggage” [1].

He said rebooking fees “could run as high as $200 per ticket,” and he promoted a Transportation Department proposal to make airlines “show you the full ticket price up front before you purchase it, including fees for baggage, for internet, for changing your seat” [1].

“I know these things may not matter to the very wealthy, but they matter most to middle-class families,” he said [1].

The Taxpayers’ Stake

Biden framed it as payback. He said Americans were frustrated “especially after you, the American taxpayer, stepped up in 2020, in the last administration, in the early days of the pandemic, to provide nearly $50 billion in assistance to keep the airline industry and its employees afloat” [1].

He also invoked the holiday travel meltdown a few months earlier: “Last holiday season, travelers were stranded for days. … Many missed family gatherings, spent Christmas at an airport, waited countless hours in line or on the phone because there weren’t enough pilots, there weren’t enough personnel. That’s unacceptable” [1].

No Questions

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke first, beginning at 1:59 p.m., according to the White House press pool. Biden finished at 2:12 p.m. “He did not take shouted questions from the press,” the pool reported [3]. As he left, a reporter called out a question about Congress and the debt ceiling; the transcript records no answer [1].

For another Biden administration aviation fight, see Sen. Ted Cruz’s grilling of FAA nominee Phil Washington in HYGO News’ page on that hearing.

By the Numbers

2: times Biden said “flightsright.gov” instead of FlightRights.gov [1].
Nearly $50 billion: the pandemic aid to airlines Biden cited [1].
2: airlines Biden said guaranteed compensation beyond a refund [1].
7 business days: how fast airlines must refund credit card purchases under the Transportation Department’s 2024 automatic-refund rule [4].
19 months: the time between Biden’s “later this year” promise and the department’s December 2024 advance notice on compensation [1][5].

What Happened Next

Refunds, yes. On April 26, 2024, the Transportation Department issued a final rule requiring automatic refunds when an airline cancels or significantly changes a flight and the passenger does not accept alternatives, within seven business days for credit card payments and 20 calendar days for other payments [4].

Compensation, late. The mandatory-compensation rule Biden promised for “later this year” did not arrive in 2023. On Dec. 11, 2024, weeks before he left office, the department published only an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, seeking comment on requiring airlines to provide “cash compensation, free rebooking, and amenities such as meals, lodging for overnight delays, and transportation to and from lodging” [5].

Then it was pulled. On Nov. 17, 2025, the Trump administration’s Transportation Department withdrew that notice, saying the plan would have required airlines to provide “a variety of costly measures.” It cited President Trump’s executive order “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation” [6].

The fee rule fell too. The upfront-fee disclosure rule Biden touted that day was vacated by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. On July 2, 2026, the department restored the fee-disclosure regulations “as they existed before publication of the 2024 Rule, returning to the standards established in a rule issued in 2011” [7].