What to Do When Your Flight Is Canceled or Delayed—and the Rights You Have if It Happens

25.07.2023 - 10:12 / afar.com

This past week, storms across the United States caused airlines to cancel thousands of flights and delay countless others right at the start of a busy summer travel season. Unfortunately, this isn’t a one-off occurrence: whether it be a storm, a mechanical issue, or lack of staff, there’s always a risk that a flight could be delayed or canceled. If you happen to find yourself stuck in transit with a flight that has been canceled or delayed by your airline, here’s what to do.

In 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) launched a new Aviation Consumer Protection website to help travelers track down what kind of refunds or compensation their airline should provide when there is a cancellation or delay (which includes a table of compensations broken down by airline)

Airlines aren’t required to compensate passengers when flights are delayed or canceled due to problems deemed beyond the company’s control, like bad weather. They also aren’t required to provide a refund when the passenger initiates the cancellation or flight change.

But a refund is required by U.S. law when the airline cancels, delays, or alters a flight, or passengers are involuntarily bumped from a flight that is oversold or due to issues originating from the airline, such as operational or staffing problems.

Additionally, after the federal government began cracking down on airlines this year, all of the major U.S. airlines vowed to provide meal vouchers for delays of more than three hours and to provide transfers and hotel stays to passengers affected by an overnight cancellation. They have all also agreed to rebook travelers on an alternate flight at no added cost due to a delay or cancellation and most will also rebook on a partner airline.

If you want to continue with your travel plans, you will need to get rebooked on a different flight (unless your flight is delayed, not canceled, and you have decided to stick with it). In this case:

If you have downloaded your airline’s app and have your flight information linked to your account, you may not need to deal with an actual human in the event of a flight delay or cancellation. As soon as your airline knows your flight will be delayed or canceled, they will send you an update within their dedicated app. Whether it’s delayed or canceled, they should give you the option to rebook on a different flight directly within the app (if they haven’t automatically placed you on a different flight). In this case, it pays to act quickly—after all, you have a whole plane full of travelers in the same situation.

If your flight is simply delayed and you’re not at risk of missing a connection, you might opt to stick with your current itinerary. In this scenario, you don’t have to do anything but