U.S. should fine airlines canceling flights over staffing issues -- senators

Two U.S. senators want the U.S. Transportation Department to fine airlines that cancel flights because of staffing or operational issues.

Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Alex Padilla asked Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a letter released on Tuesday to take a harder line with airlines in the face of thousands of flight cancellations this summer. The senators said the department should use its authority "to impose fines designed to change airlines' calculus about harming consumers to pad their own profits."