Delayed, Cancelled Flights Now Eligible for Full Cash Refund

Vacationers inconvenienced by flight delays and cancellations will not have to worry about combating for a refund resulting from new legal guidelines handed by the U.S. Department of Transportation on Wednesday.

Passengers on residence flights delayed three hours further or worldwide flights delayed six hours or further will be entitled to an automatic cash refund for the entire flight price. Canceled flights can also make vacationers eligible for a refund.

Related: Airlines Made $33 Billion on Baggage Fees in 2023: Report

Consistent with the model new pointers, refunds must be issued inside a few days.

Airways can nonetheless try to provide passengers the selection of a model new flight or journey credit score rating as a substitute of a cash refund, nonetheless passengers now have the approved correct to waive these decisions.

The automated nature of the refunds implies that affected passengers is not going to should state of affairs a request or file a criticism to be compensated for his or her disruptions.

“Passengers must get their a refund when an airline owes them — with out problems or haggling,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a press release on Wednesday. “Our new rule items a model new regular to require airways to promptly current cash refunds to their passengers.”

Together with cash refunds, the DOT moreover issued new guidance on checked baggage — if a bag simply isn’t delivered inside a 12-hour window after a passenger’s flight lands on a house flight or inside 30 hours of a world flight, airways ought to state of affairs refunds on the checked-bag cost, which fluctuate counting on the airline.

Purchasers can also receive cost refunds within the occasion that they pay for extra services, nonetheless normally aren’t provided with them all through their flight, akin to Wi-Fi or seat selection.

Related: United Airlines Loses $2 Billion After Waiving Change Fees

The model new pointers are a part of the administration’s plan to take away “shock junk expenses.” Buttigieg said airways now ought to make clear all extra expenses “clearly, conspicuously, and exactly” when displaying a fare price for purchase.

“To be clear, we want the airline sector to thrive,” Buttigieg said at a press conference at the Ronald Reagan Airport on Wednesday. “It’s why we’re being so rigorous on passenger security. This could assemble confidence in air journey at a time when airways should do further to protected passengers’ perception.”