The Time is Money Act instructs the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations that amend the federal regulatory definition of a “significantly delayed or changed flight” in 14 C.F.R. §260.2. The bill mandates a shorter threshold: it lowers the domestic trigger from 3 hours to 2 hours and the international trigger from 6 hours to 5 hours, and gives the Secretary 180 days after enactment to complete the rulemaking.
That single numerical change can have outsized regulatory effects because the §260.2 definition is used as a trigger in multiple DOT consumer-protection and reporting rules. By narrowing the threshold, the bill accelerates the point at which disruptions qualify as “significant,” potentially expanding the circumstances that activate reporting, notification, and other regulatory responses tied to that definition.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill directs the Secretary of Transportation to amend 14 C.F.R. §260.2 by changing the definition thresholds: domestic itineraries move from a 3-hour to a 2-hour delay, and international itineraries from 6 hours to 5 hours. The Secretary must promulgate the necessary regulations within 180 days of enactment.
Who It Affects
Air carriers operating U.S. flights, airports and ground-service providers that respond to disruptions, DOT compliance and enforcement staff, and air travelers whose delays will hit the regulatory ‘significant’ threshold sooner. Consumer advocates and trade groups that monitor carrier reporting will be directly interested.
Why It Matters
Because many DOT obligations and reporting requirements reference §260.2, shifting its numeric triggers changes when those obligations apply. Professionals in airline operations, compliance, and legal teams need to map how a two-hour domestic and five-hour international threshold alters filing, notification, and contingency processes.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill contains two short provisions: a short title and a substantive directive. The operative provision does not itself rewrite the Code of Federal Regulations; instead, it orders the Secretary of Transportation to adopt regulations that amend the definition currently found at 14 C.F.R. §260.2.
The instruction is narrow and numerical: reduce the definition’s delay threshold for domestic itineraries from three hours to two, and for international itineraries from six hours to five.
The statute sets a hard procedural deadline: the Secretary must issue the necessary regulations within 180 days of enactment. That timeline compresses the rulemaking process, requiring DOT to craft regulatory text, solicit and consider stakeholder comments as appropriate under the Administrative Procedure Act, and finalize changes within roughly six months.Although the bill focuses on the §260.2 definition, that definition serves as a building block across DOT’s aviation consumer-protection framework.
A shorter threshold means the classification “significantly delayed or changed flight” will attach earlier in a disruption, which in turn can expand the occasions when carriers must comply with downstream requirements that reference that classification. The bill does not itself create new carrier obligations or penalties; it changes the trigger that determines when existing requirements apply.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill directs the Secretary of Transportation to amend 14 C.F.R. §260.2 — it does not directly amend the Code of Federal Regulations itself; it mandates a rulemaking.
It lowers the domestic ‘significantly delayed or changed flight’ threshold from 3 hours to 2 hours.
It lowers the international ‘significantly delayed or changed flight’ threshold from 6 hours to 5 hours.
The Secretary has 180 days from enactment to issue the necessary regulations implementing these numeric changes.
The text contains no standalone remedies, penalties, or service-mandate changes; it only changes the definitional trigger that other DOT rules may reference.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Short title: 'Time is Money Act'
This section provides the Act’s short title and has no substantive legal effect. It matters for citation and legislative drafting but imposes no regulatory or compliance obligations.
Directive to amend 14 C.F.R. §260.2 and timeline
This is the bill’s operative language. It commands the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations amending the definition of a 'significantly delayed or changed flight' in title 14, section 260.2, lowering the domestic threshold from three hours to two and the international threshold from six hours to five. The section imposes a 180-day deadline for DOT to complete the rulemaking. Practically, DOT must draft regulatory text, run whatever notice-and-comment process it selects, and finalize the amendment within that statutory timeframe.
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Explore Transportation in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Air travelers experiencing delays — a lower threshold will classify delays as 'significant' sooner, which can accelerate carrier reporting and public transparency tied to that classification.
- Consumer-advocacy organizations — earlier triggers give advocates more occasions to demand carrier accountability and to use DOT data and disclosure tied to 'significant' disruptions.
- Regulators and policymakers — a clearer, stricter numeric standard can simplify monitoring and provide a uniform basis for tracking delay trends across carriers.
Who Bears the Cost
- Air carriers — will need to reassess operational triggers, reporting workflows, and customer-notification procedures because the 'significant' label applies earlier and may expand regulatory obligations referenced elsewhere.
- Department of Transportation — faces a compressed 180-day rulemaking timeline that will require staff time and resource prioritization to produce a defensible, legally sound rule.
- Airports and ground-service providers — may absorb increased operational and coordination demands when more disruptions qualify as 'significant' and activate downstream response protocols.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The bill pits a desire to strengthen passenger protections and transparency by recognizing delays as 'significant' sooner against the operational and administrative costs of expanding when regulatory obligations attach; executing that shift within a 180-day rulemaking window amplifies the trade-off between speed of reform and careful, defensible regulatory design.
The bill is intentionally narrow—it only changes a numerical threshold and delegates the substance of the change to DOT rulemaking. That delegation creates implementation questions: DOT will have to decide whether and how to revise associated regulatory text, how broadly to interpret 'international itinerary' (e.g., does it include flights between the U.S. and territories), and whether to adjust related definitions or cross-references in adjacent regulations.
The 180-day deadline compresses the Administrative Procedure Act process, potentially limiting DOT’s ability to conduct extended outreach, economic analysis, or iterative drafting before finalizing the rule.
A lowered threshold will ripple into any existing rules that reference §260.2, but the bill does not enumerate which downstream obligations change or whether DOT should harmonize other provisions simultaneously. That gap raises legal and operational uncertainty: carriers and airports will need guidance on how the new trigger intersects with notification, accommodation, reporting, and enforcement provisions across DOT’s regulatory portfolio.
Finally, the bill reframes a policy question—how early a disruption should be deemed 'significant'—without addressing associated remedies, so litigation or follow-on rulemakings could arise to clarify practical consequences.
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