Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced the new rules on Wednesday.
Good news for airline travelers: The Transportation Department is rolling out new rules on Wednesday that will require airlines to automatically give cash refunds to passengers for canceled and significantly delayed flights.
The agency said delays would be more than three hours for domestic flights and more than six hours for international flights. This includes tickets purchased directly from airlines, travel agents, and third-party sites like Expedia and Travelocity.
DOT will also require airlines to give a cash refund if your bag is lost and not delivered within 12 hours.
DOT said airlines will have six months to comply with the new rules.
“Travelers deserve to get their money back when an airline owes them — without the headache or haggling,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “Our new rule sets a new standard for airlines to provide prompt cash refunds to their passengers.”
Buttigieg will formally announce the major changes at a news conference Wednesday morning.
The DoT said it is also working on rules related to mandating family seating fees, enhancing the rights of passengers traveling on wheelchairs for safe and dignified travel and compensation and facilities in case of delay or cancellation of flights by airlines. Is.
According to DOT, passengers are entitled to a refund if their flight is canceled or significantly changed and they do not accept the offered alternative transportation or travel credit. This also includes significantly delayed baggage returns and additional services that have been paid for and not provided, such as Wi-Fi, seat selection or inflight entertainment.
“A4A members are offered a variety of options – including fully refundable fares,” Airlines for America, the trade association for the nation's leading passenger and cargo airlines, said in a statement to ABC News. It is said that consumers are “given a choice of refundable ticket options with the terms and conditions best suited to their needs in the first search results.”
According to their data, A4A member carriers issued $43 billion in customer refunds between 2020-2023.
