Cancelled Or Delayed Flight: Can You Get A Refund?

Does this mean if the delay exceeds the limit posted by FAA or airlines own contract of carriage but we still take the delayed flight are we still entitled to refund? Does this include refund of miles if it was an award flight? Thank you! This was great information

I'm curious if airlines are more generous about this in practice than their contracts of carriage require.

Most of my domestic flying is with Alaska and American, and my experience with Alaska is that they're significantly more generous than what's stated in the legal terms. I've been offered refunds (or free alterations with significant latitude) when the schedule only changed by ~30 minutes on numerous occasions.

Just this past month, the schedule changed by not that much (I think about half an hour), and I was able to make a free change to any flight to the same destination within a one-day window (so the day before, same day, or day after).

I wouldn't be surprised if all the airlines keep their contract of carriage terms strict, but in actual practice are more generous.

@ Flyerguy10 -- You'd only get a refund if you don't take the flight. Though the DOT has proposed introducing cash compensation for delays (it probably won't actually become law, but...).

I actually had a surprisingly good experience with United recently giving me a cash refund. I had booked a flight cross country for next year with Polaris lie-flat seats. A few months before the flight, I saw that they changed my aircraft to the Max which has no lie flat seats. The legroom is only 37 inches, which to me is more premium economy than first class. I have a bad back and need to recline. When I contacted United, at first, they tried to tell me the seats were the same, but I finally convinced them that they weren’t and they agreed to a full refund. I also mentioned I deliberately booked a 757 to avoid the Max. I don’t know what was the trigger, but it worked. I rebooked on American

In these days of full flights a refund is usually not what I would prefer. I want / need to get to a place.
On Dec 17 to 18 I endured an 16 h 48 m flight delay on AA 765 PHL PHX.
So far AA offered 10k points and no hotel voucher as we lived in tri state area.
I wrote a total recap if you want to read.

If your Jetblue flight is changed by three hours, you can change for free to any flight within 3 days (including nearby airports). This can be a huge benefit, especially around holidays!

The refund should be what the airline is charging on that flights last minute fare. I got jacked by southwest during their meltdown. They gave me a full refund. It was $95. But I still had to get to where I needed to go. I ended up paying $250 on ual for a lady minute fare and arriving much later than I originally planned with the SW flight.

I had a 12 hour delay with AA last month. It was a redeye flight that was suppose to leave at 11pm, didn't take off until 12pm the next day. At no moment did AA offer hotel/meal vouchers. People slept at the gate. All the gate agents did was bring water bottles and the snacks from the plane around 2am, an hour before they delayed the flight until 9am due to crew timeouts. The gate agent even gaslighted me telling me it was the same plane, when I asked them what was the issue with the original aircraft. I saw them tow it out of the gate around midnight and they brought another aircraft with a different tailnumber. All I got from AA was an automatic 10K miles and then another 7K when I filed a complaint requesting for compensation for the missed basketball tickets I had that went to waste because I arrived after the game ended. I got the runaround from AA customer service and AA refunds. AA refunds telling me I had to file a complaint with customer service. Customer service telling me I had to file a refund claim with the reunds department. Filed the DOT complaint, still waiting to hear back from them.

Joe / Speedbird, you guys seem confused as to what the new DOT rules mean. You are not eligible for a refund if you flew and landed several hours/days late...

You are only eligible for a refund if you cancel and chose not to travel after a 3 hour delay.
That is all. The rules are clear on this.

That might seem like it makes sense but on which airline’s fares exactly would you base that on at the time? And the highest or the lowest available fare across all airlines offering a similar route? Imagine you paid $800 for your, let’s just say United, ticket 7 days out, then the day of departure, they cancel. Let’s say Delta had the same flight available on the day of cancelation for $400. Would you be happy with a $400 refund on the $800 you paid.? I’m going to guess no.

This is why rebooking agreements are so important and shouldn’t be “optional” for the airlines.

@Speedbird if you weren’t going to make the game, why didn’t you take the refund and not travel?

@TPMan that’s what everyone just glazes over. At its most basic level, an airline is responsible for your transportation. If they don’t provide you with transportation, you should be entitled to a prompt refund - that’s exactly what the DOT says. If the transportation is provided, they’ve -again, at the most basic level, held up their end of the deal.

I’m by no means an Airline apologist but you’re paying for transportation. Yes, it’s supposed to be at a specific time, we all have lives and places to be, yadda yadda. Expecting a full refund when you accepted the service (transportation) offered is bananas to me.

Expedia has partnered with AirClaims for those whose itineraries are disrupted and covered by EC 261/2004, and they send automated emails advising people to file a claim for the specific itinerary.

Maybe something similar will come into being for situations covered by US DOT rules.