One positive thing to come from the pandemic is that most airlines in the United States no longer have change fees on most kinds of fares. That’s exciting, since it makes the process of booking a flight much lower stakes. It’s much easier to now speculatively book a ticket, especially if you frequently fly with an airline, and could use a voucher toward a future trip.
However, there’s often still confusion about under what circumstances you’re eligible for a cash refund in the event of an airline cancellation or delay (either in the form of a schedule change in advance, or even in the event of irregular operations day of). In this post I wanted to take a closer look at that.
In this post:
US DOT policy on airline ticket refunds
The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) has rules regarding under what circumstances airlines are required to provide cash refunds to customers. While the DOT airline customer service dashboard is a generally helpful tool, let’s look specifically at refund policies regarding delays and cancellations, especially as these rules have been updated in recent times.
The DOT states that passengers are entitled to a refund if their flight is canceled or significantly changed, and they do not accept alternative transportation or travel credits. How is a “significantly changed” flight defined? It includes:
- When a departure or arrival time has been changed by more than three hours domestically, or by more than six hours internationally
- When a flight has been changed to a different departure or arrival airport
- When the number of connections on an itinerary has increased
- When passengers are downgraded to a lower class of service
As you can see, the DOT makes it clear that you’re entitled to a refund if your flight is canceled, regardless of how much of a delay it causes, and regardless of the cause of the cancellation. Meanwhile a departure or arrival time change of three hours for a domestic itinerary, or six hours for an international itinerary, would also make you eligible for a refund.
Let me emphasize that we’re talking here about real refunds (meaning to your original form of payment), rather than an airline voucher (which many people are nowadays entitled to even when voluntarily making changes).
These policies apply on all flights to and from the United States, regardless of which airlines operate them. Of course regulations will differ around the globe.
Airline policies on refunds for cancelled and delayed flights
As explained above, in the United States you’re always entitled to a refund to your original form of payment for cancelled flights. Meanwhile for flights with schedule changes, there needs to be either a three hour change for domestic flights, or a six hour change for international flights.
Some airline exactly follow DOT rules, while some airlines have policies that are more generous than those that are required, so I wanted to talk about that in this post. What are the policies of six of the biggest airlines in the United States?
Alaska refund policy for delayed and cancelled flights
According to Alaska’s contract of carriage, you’re entitled to a refund if your flight is canceled, or if there’s a schedule change resulting in the arrival or departure time changing by more than three hours on a domestic flight, and by more than six hours on an international flight. The airline exactly follows the DOT requirements, and does nothing more.
American refund policy for delayed and cancelled flights
According to American’s contract of carriage, you’re entitled to a refund if your flight is canceled, or if there’s a schedule change resulting in the arrival or departure time changing by more than three hours on a domestic flight, and by more than four hours on an international flight.
Delta refund policy for delayed and cancelled flights
According to Delta’s contract of carriage, you’re entitled to a refund if your flight is canceled, or if there’s a schedule change resulting in the arrival or departure time changing by more than three hours on a domestic or international flight.
JetBlue refund policy for delayed and cancelled flights
According to JetBlue’s contract of carriage, you’re entitled to a refund if your flight is canceled, or if there’s a schedule change resulting in the arrival or departure time changing by more than three hours on a domestic flight, and by more than six hours on an international flight. Much like Alaska, Southwest, and United, JetBlue exactly follows the DOT requirements.
Southwest refund policy for delayed and cancelled flights
According to Southwest’s contract of carriage, you’re entitled to a refund if your flight is canceled, or if there’s a schedule change resulting in the arrival or departure time changing by more than three hours on a domestic flight, and by more than six hours on an international flight. Much like Alaska, JetBlue, and United, Southwest exactly follows the DOT requirements.
United refund policy for delayed and cancelled flights
According to United’s contract of carriage, you’re entitled to a refund if your flight is canceled, or if there’s a schedule change resulting in the arrival or departure time changing by more than three hours on a domestic flight, and by more than six hours on an international flight. Much like Alaska, JetBlue, and Southwest, United exactly follows the DOT requirements, and does nothing more.
What recourse do you have if airlines refuse refunds?
Post-pandemic, airlines are pretty good about following their published policies when it comes to refunds for cancellations or schedule changes. However, what happens if you do run into issues (this is probably more common with non-US airlines on flights to & from the United States)?
File a complaint with the DOT
This is unlikely to get you an immediate resolution, but if you are being denied a refund even though you’re legally entitled to one, I recommend filing a complaint with the US DOT.
These count against the airlines, and long term airlines might face fines for violating DOT regulations.
Dispute the charge on your credit card
Simply put, airlines are violating federal laws by refusing a refund if your flight is cancelled, and for the most part they’re also violating their own contracts of carriage. If you’ve tried every method for getting a refund but are denied, a credit card dispute might be the next logical step.
Bottom line
In the United States, you’re entitled to a refund to your original form of payment in the event that your flight is cancelled, whether that’s in advance (as part of a schedule change) or on the day of departure.
You’re also entitled to a cash refund in the case of a significant delay or schedule change. The DOT defines this as a schedule change (to arrival and/or departure) of three hours for domestic flights, and six hours for international flights. However, some airlines have more generous policies than what the DOT mandates.
What has your experience been with cash refunds for airline cancellations and delays?
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.
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.
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...
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.
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!
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.
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...
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.
@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...
@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.
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...
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
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...
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.
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
@ 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...).