WASHINGTON – Ever since the price of oil skyrocketed in recent years, airlines have been charging passengers for checked in luggage, even if that suitcase gets lost and is not recovered for hours or days.

US Senator Charles Schumer urged the major airlines in the US to reimburse passengers for those fees whenever their luggage is not on their flight and delivered when everyone else gets theirs.

The senator’s call comes in light of a loophole in new regulations from the US Department of Transportation set to take effect next month, which will require airlines to reimburse passengers for baggage fees only if their luggage is lost and never returned. That means that “passengers will continue to be unfairly charged baggage fees, even if their bags are not promptly delivered to them at the airport,” he said.

“Unless airlines do the job they are paid to do and return bags in a timely fashion, passengers shouldn’t have to pay a dime,” Schumer said Sunday.