TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES SPRING 2025 UNIFIED AGENDA OF REGULATORY ACTIONS
October 6, 2025
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On September 4, 2025, the Trump administration released the Spring 2025 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, a biannual government-wide publication of current agency rulemaking efforts and what industry can expect from U.S. regulators in the coming months. The Spring 2025 Unified Agenda identifies several Biden-era consumer protection initiatives which the Trump administration does not plan to pursue. For instance, DOT plans to rescind the Ancillary Fees Rule. This rule would have required U.S. air carriers, foreign air carriers, and ticket agents to clearly disclose passenger-specific or itinerary-specific fees for services (i.e., transporting a first checked bag, second checked bag, and carry-on bag; and changing or canceling a reservation) whenever fare and schedule information was provided for flights to, within, and from the U.S.
DOT will also withdraw the proposed Biden-era Airline Passenger Rights rulemaking which would have required airlines to pay passengers cash compensation, rebook affected passengers free of charge on the next available flight, and cover expenses (i.e., meals, overnight lodging, related transportation) for disrupted flights. Additional future changes could impact (1) the definition of a flight cancellation that would entitle consumers to ticket refunds, (2) the meaning of timely bag delivery for domestic and international flights, (3) automatic refunds of ancillary fees for services not provided, and (4) carrier obligations to consumers affected by a serious communicable disease, among others.
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