Rotten luck seems to follow Mattia Zenere, 31, on his travels lately.<\/p>\n
Over the past five years, four of his flights have involved long delays or cancellations, including one misadventure \u2014 on a trip from London to Venice, Italy \u2014 that caused him to arrive a full day late.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s a silver lining: Thanks to Europe\u2019s robust consumer protection rules for airlines, in each case, the customer service professional was refunded his out-of-pocket expenses. Mr. Zenere also received an additional hardship payout from the airline for three of the disruptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe law really works,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For fed-up air travelers in the U.S., similar protections could be on the horizon \u2014 and the airlines aren\u2019t happy about it. This week, President Biden and Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, announced plans to introduce new rules this year that would require airlines to pay up for travel disruptions they cause.<\/p>\n
Following waves of pandemic-era flight interruptions and the fiasco that forced Southwest Airlines to cancel 16,700 flights around the winter holidays, Biden is betting that Americans will want the kind of protections Europeans (and non-Europeans who fly in Europe) have enjoyed for nearly 20 years.<\/p>\n
The E.U. law is popular \u2014 and generous.<\/strong> A flight delayed by more than three hours is considered canceled, and the passenger is entitled to between 250 euros ($273) and 600 euros in compensation. The payout is determined by flight distance, not ticket price, which airlines have long protested.<\/p>\n Airlines can contest payments by arguing a disruption was caused by extraordinary circumstances such as bad weather, a strike action by air traffic controllers or \u201can out of the ordinary\u201d technical issue with the plane. But European courts continue to narrow the definition of \u201cextraordinary.\u201d This week, one ruled that even the death of a co-pilot does not get an airline out of reimbursing customers for a delay.<\/p>\n Biden\u2019s plan would require cash refunds for significant delays or cancellations. <\/strong>The president also wants to see travelers compensated for meals, hotels, ground transport and rebooking fees. U.S. airlines are not currently required to offer cash compensation for delays or cancellations; they must compensate passengers who get \u201cbumped\u201d from flights.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not enough, said Mr. Biden. \u201cYou deserve to be fully compensated. Your time matters. The impact on your life matters.\u201d<\/p>\n Europe\u2019s legislation has changed how airlines schedule flights,<\/strong> \u201cwith particular focus now on arrival punctuality,\u201d a spokesman for Eurocontrol, the intergovernmental organization that helps manage Europe\u2019s commercial airspace, told DealBook. Still, as air travel booms, E.U. flight data shows delays to be a growing problem.<\/p>\n Airlines oppose compensation laws. <\/strong>\u201cAirlines already have financial incentives to get their passengers to their destination as planned,\u201d <\/strong>Willie Walsh, the director general of the International Air Transport Association, a lobbying group, said in a statement criticizing the Biden plan. \u201cThe added layer of expense that this regulation will impose will not create a new incentive, but it will have to be recouped \u2014 which is likely to have an impact on ticket prices.\u201d Steer Group, an independent consultancy, calculated that in 2018, European airlines incurred a combined 5 billion euros in expenses to process the volume of compensation claims and pay out the meritorious ones. For each passenger disrupted, the airline incurred an average cost of 138 euros.<\/p>\n Europe\u2019s air passenger rights regulation hasn\u2019t been a panacea.<\/strong> It can still be time consuming and frustrating to secure claim money. Mr. Zenere, for example, is still arguing with Wizz Air, the airline that delayed his trip to Venice last year. They underpaid, he said, and still owe him 250 euros for the aborted trip. \u201cI know my rights,\u201d he said. \u2014 Bernhard Warner<\/em><\/p>\n Tell us what you think:<\/em><\/strong> What changes would you like to see introduced to make the air travel experience smoother? Email us at <\/em>dealbook@nytimes.com<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n Elon Musk\u2019s new hire. <\/strong>The entrepreneur appointed Linda Yaccarino to replace him as C.E.O. of Twitter. Yaccarino, who was NBCUniversal\u2019s head of advertising, will take over a company that has struggled to expand its ad business.<\/p>\n Where is Ron DeSantis? <\/strong>The governor of Florida barred state agencies from releasing his travel records, spurring critics to warn that he was trying to hide damaging information as he gears up for a potential presidential run. Steve Schwarzman, the billionaire co-founder of the investment giant Blackstone and a major Republican donor, met with the Florida governor recently but is unconvinced about his odds for success, according to Bloomberg.<\/p>\n George Santos plead not guilty. <\/strong>The first-term Republican congressman from Long Island faces 13 counts of fraud, including money laundering, wire fraud, making false statements and stealing public funds. The indictment does not immediately prevent him from serving in the House, and it would take a two-thirds vote to expel him, which means Republicans would have to join Democrats.<\/p>\n Crashing a plane for YouTube views.<\/strong> A 29-year-old pilot and sky diver has admitted to intentionally crashing a small plane near Santa Barbara, Calif., as part of a video he filmed for a product sponsorship. He faces up to 20 years in prison for obstructing a federal investigation by cleaning up the crash site.<\/p>\n Few video games have been as revolutionary as Nintendo\u2019s Legend of Zelda, the action-adventure series launched way back in 1986. Now, almost 40 years later, the Japanese company has unveiled the latest edition of the franchise, Tears of the Kingdom, hoping that the game lives up to the significant anticipation.<\/p>\n It was released yesterday (some fans took the day off to play) and is expected to be a hit. But will it be enough to compensate for Nintendo\u2019s slowing sales? The company last released a new console, the Switch, in 2017, the same year it released its last Zelda game, Breath of the Wild. Both were hugely successful. But the Switch faces growing competition, and gamers are pulling back from buying expensive hardware in general. New ventures, like \u201cThe Super Mario Bros. Movie\u201d have provided a boost. But Nintendo doesn\u2019t have plans to launch a crucial new console within the next year.<\/p>\n Still, the Zelda Franchise is a valuable asset with a long history and a rabid fan base. Here is a look at the game, and its business importance, by the numbers:<\/p>\n 29 million: <\/strong>Copies sold of Breath of the Wild, Nintendo\u2019s most popular Zelda game.<\/p>\n 10.3 million: <\/strong>Number of YouTube views of a four-minute trailer for the new Tears of the Kingdom game, which was meticulously analyzed by superfans for hints about the upcoming release.<\/p>\n $69.99<\/strong>: Tears of the Kingdom\u2019s price tag, a $10 increase from what Nintendo usually charges for new games.<\/p>\n 125 million:<\/strong> Total number of Switch consoles Nintendo has sold as of March 31, according to the company\u2019s website.<\/p>\n 15 million<\/strong>: Number of Switch consoles Nintendo expects to sell this fiscal year, after selling 18 million Switch units in the year to March. \u201cSustaining the Switch\u2019s sales momentum will be difficult in its seventh year,\u201d Nintendo\u2019s president, Shuntaro Furukawa, said on a call with investors this week, according to Bloomberg.<\/p>\n Movies on Silicon Valley tech titans like Apple and Facebook captured the drama behind the businesses and their larger-than-life founders. \u201cBlackberry,\u201d which hit theaters yesterday, is the latest film to tell the story of a <\/span>trailblazing company and the relationships behind the characters who led it. <\/span>The phone, with its teeny tiny keyboard, was transformative and such a mainstay of executives\u2019 lives that it became known as the \u201ccrackberry.\u201d <\/span>But the real subject of the film is the relationship between the technologists behind the device and the executives who turned into a booming business. And while the BlackBerry may have spectacularly flamed out in the iPhone era, reviewers have found plenty of current relevance in the movie. \u201cMore than anything, perhaps, \u201cBlackBerry\u201d highlights the vulnerability and exploitability of creatives in a cutthroat marketplace,\u201d wrote Jeannette Catsoulis for The New York Times. <\/p>\nIN CASE YOU MISSED IT <\/span><\/h3>\n
The business of Zelda <\/h2>\n
On our radar: \u2018BlackBerry\u2019 <\/h2>\n