Getting Your Money Back from Airlines Is About to Get Much Easier

29.04.2024 - 22:45 / afar.com / Pete Buttigieg / Airlines

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) on Wednesday took one of its strongest stances to date to protect the traveling consumer. The agency issued new rules mandating that all airlines flying to, through, or from the United States provide travelers with immediate cash refunds in the event of a cancellation or significant delay.

“Passengers deserve to get their money back when an airline owes them—without headaches or haggling,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “Our new rule sets a new standard to require airlines to promptly provide cash refunds to their passengers.”

Paul Hudson, president of FlyersRights, an airline passenger advocacy organization, noted that prior to the implementation of this new rule, the airlines had guidelines they didn’t necessarily have to follow. “Some would, some wouldn’t,” said Hudson. “But now, there’s a hard-and-fast rule that says that if your flight is canceled for any reason or if it’s delayed more than three hours domestically, or six hours internationally, you have an automatic right to a refund.”

Like any rule created by the DOT, “if an airline violates it, they are subject to fines,” Hudson added, emphasizing that the new refund rule applies to any flight that is canceled or significantly delayed—for any reason.

“If the weather is bad and the flight doesn’t fly, you still get a refund, unless you accept the alternative,” he said.

Here’s exactly what the new airline refund rule entails.

Effective October 2024 (airlines are being given six months to implement the new DOT rule), airline passengers will be entitled to a prompt refund for:

Before the DOT issued this new rule, airlines could create their own parameters around what flight-schedule changes would result in a refund. Consequently, “refund policies differed from airline to airline, which made it difficult for passengers to know or assert their refund rights. DOT also received complaints of some airlines revising and applying less consumer-friendly refund policies during spikes in flight cancellations and changes,” the DOT stated.
According to the new rule, the required refunds from the airlines will need to be:

Also, the airlines will be responsible for immediately informing travelers affected by a canceled or significantly delayed flight that they have a right to a refund.
“The DOT’s new rule is a watershed moment for passenger protection in the airline industry, making it easy and accessible for consumers to get relief,” William J. McGee, senior fellow for Aviation and Travel at the American Economic Liberties Project, said in a statement.

McGee noted that the move is the latest in a “sea change in the DOT’s enforcement activity,” including most recently an effort to