Study Shows Unintended Consequences from Tarmac Delay Rule

A recently published study on the effects of the U.S. Department of Transportation's 2010 Tarmac Delay Rule is receiving considerable media attention. The study by researchers at Dartmouth and MIT found that the rule has been successful in its intended goal of reducing the number of delays in which passengers are stranded on the tarmac for an excessive period of time, but that flight cancellations and non-tarmac delays have increased as a consequence of airlines' attempts to comply with the rule. The study's authors propose alterations to minimize the rule's negative effects, such as increasing the tarmac delay threshold from 3 to 3.5 hours and exempting evening flights from the rule to reduce cancellations that strand passengers overnight.