How much money could passengers earn if the U.S. had European airline consumer protection laws?

Whereas a deregulated marketplace for airline transportation has provided consumer benefits in reduced airfares, and options for amenities and quality of service, it has not exhibited improvements in the reliability of the transportation service with regard to on-time gate arrivals. For example, in 2016, U.S. domestic operations exhibited an 81 % on-time performance. Of the 27% of the flights that operated but were not on-time, 28% were attributed to “carrier delays.” These are disruptions that cannot be attributed to Extra-ordinary Circumstances (EoCs) such as extreme weather, national airspace system congestion, late arriving aircraft, or security.