Today kicks off the much-talked about tarmac rule, set up by the Department of Transportation. The rule states that if an airline keeps passengers grounded for more than a three-hour delay, then it faces fines of up to 27,500 per passenger.

Passenger-rights activist are excited about the rule, stating that it holds travelers’ rights and respect in a rightly-deserved manner, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there won’t be delays.

The rule started in order to encourage airlines to be more timely and reduce delays with the motivation of harsh penalties. Instead, airlines have threatened to simply cancel flights that may cause delay issues, which could then further a passenger’s travel time to the next day, rather than just a few hours. The Air Transport Association predicts this as a likely outcome.

Stay tuned to Cheapflights’ News and Views to hear more about the impact of the DoT’s new tarmac rule.