If you’ve ever tried filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) after a trip went sideways, you know the drill: endless forms, confusing portals, and radio silence for weeks—sometimes months. The DOT’s system was built in the 1990s, long before smartphones and instant digital communication, and it showed. However, last month, the DOT launched a new, upgraded complaint platform, called the Aviation Complaint, Enforcement, and Reporting System (ACERS), aimed at overhauling how air travelers raise concerns, including issues such as luggage mishandling and accessibility failures.
The platform promises to address complaints faster and make the process more transparent. Submissions now reach airlines immediately, and passengers can log in to check their status—something the old system never allowed.
The launch comes just as the DOT is retreating from one of its most ambitious consumer-rights proposals: a rule that would have required airlines to pay passengers in cash for lengthy delays within the carrier’s control. That rule, heralded by consumer advocates as a long-overdue protection, was shelved after aggressive airline lobbying, which raised doubts about whether the agency is committed to strengthening passenger protections.
“Even though the DOT is scrapping the rule on compensation for delays and cancellations, the complaint system still serves many other purposes,” Meghna Maharishi, an airlines reporter for Skift, a travel industry news site, told Afar. “Travelers can still use—and have been using—the complaint system to file complaints about lost or mishandled luggage and wheelchairs, service, refunds, and issues with flights, such as a lengthy delay. While some of the mechanisms to resolve these issues have either been axed by the DOT or struck down in court, the DOT still does respond to a lot of these complaints, and typically, some recourse is offered to passengers.”
In other words, the upgraded system won’t guarantee payouts for delays, but it still gives travelers an important avenue to seek remedies when things go wrong.
What the new system does
The redesigned consumer portal is more intuitive and mobile-friendly and comes with clearer prompts about what kinds of complaints can be filed. Travelers can now submit not only grievances but also compliments and comments. Stronger privacy and security protections replace the vulnerabilities of the old system.
Perhaps most importantly, ACERS sends complaints to airlines and ticket agents in real time. Under the previous setup, submissions could take up to a month to reach carriers. The new immediacy should give passengers a clearer sense of whether their case is being addressed.
The DOT also says the system will make it easier to spot industry-wide problems. Because airlines now receive standardized, detailed reports, regulators can better track trends—say, if a carrier is repeatedly mishandling mobility devices or experiencing chronic customer-service failures.
What the new system doesn’t do
For all its upgrades, ACERS doesn’t change the fundamental power dynamics of air travel. The DOT has cautioned that it may not respond to every single complaint, given the volume it receives. And while airlines are expected to reply to passengers, there’s no guarantee they’ll resolve issues to a traveler’s satisfaction.
That’s where the rollback on compensation rules stings. For many fliers, cash payouts for avoidable disruptions would have represented a concrete shift in accountability. Instead, what they’ve received is a smoother way to complain—an improvement, yes, but one that stops short of real enforcement.
