Airlines now required to pay cash refunds for delayed or canceled flights: DOT

The painful days of salary delays are finally over. .

Travelers no longer need to fear being stuck in a financial holding pattern if their flight is cancelled.

US airlines are now required to give passengers automatic refunds for tickets and other flight-related expenses if their flight is canceled or significantly delayed.

“Today, our automatic refund rule goes into full effect,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated in a Monday post on X. “Airlines are required to provide immediate refunds without passengers having to ask.”

In doing so, they’re making good on the instant refund policy the Department of Transportation proposed in April to speed up the refund process, increase transparency and protect against “hidden junk fees.”

While parts of the new DOT policy were created as early as May, some provisions took longer to take effect due to their length of time, according to USA Today.

Under the new rules, passengers are entitled to automatic refunds without having to explicitly request them, and these refunds must be processed within seven days for credit card purchases and 20 days for other payment methods.

Previously, airlines were required to provide refunds, provided the passenger did not book alternative flights with them, but the exact window for refunds was unclear.

Additionally, those refunds must be paid in full — minus the value of flights already flown — in the original form of payment “used to make the purchase, such as a credit card or airline miles,” according to the policy.

“Airlines cannot substitute vouchers, travel credits or other forms of compensation unless the passenger positively chooses to accept alternative compensation,” it said.

A significant flight delay, according to the policy, is three hours for a domestic flight and six hours for an international route – time limits that apply to both departure and arrival delays.

And flights aren’t the only parts of travel subject to refunds. Under the new regulation, passengers who file mishandled baggage reports are entitled to a refund of checked baggage fees if the baggage is lost and not delivered within 12 hours of arrival at the gate of a domestic flight.

Meanwhile, international flights will have 15 to 30 hours to return lost luggage, depending on their duration, according to the policy.

The said baggage charge should be disclosed along with the fare and schedule information on the airline’s online platform and not through a hyperlink once they have booked.

In this way, passengers can “avoid surprise fees when purchasing tickets from airlines or ticket agents, including brick-and-mortar travel agencies or online travel agencies,” the policy states.

Finally, passengers are entitled to a refund for ancillary services not provided due to cancellation or other circumstances.

These include Wi-Fi, seat selection and in-flight entertainment.