Let’s face it: Flying a commercial airline has its perks, but it can also be a real pain.
Whether it’s for work or fun, you allot a certain number of hours for travel and a certain number of days to spend in your destination. If a flight gets delayed by many hours, changed to a different day, or canceled altogether, your entire trip—not to mention your bank account—can take a hit. Extra hotel nights and car rental costs are not cheap. A whole vacation day spent at the airport is wasted. The frustration of not having things go as planned is, well, frustrating.
If your flight changed and you’re asking “What are my rights?” you’re not alone. The Department of Transportation has rules in place for airlines specifically to deal with the flight changes that thousands of passengers deal with every day. Here is what you might expect in your situation.
Can I Get a Flight Schedule Change Refund?
When a flight changes or is canceled, most airlines first attempt to offer passengers options other than reimbursement. The DOT has a dashboard on their website of nine major airlines’ cancellation and delay policies, including what types of accommodations they will offer to passengers. These include:
- Rebooking on another flight at no additional cost.
- Rebooking on a partner airline at no additional cost.
- Getting a meal voucher or cash for a meal when a delay lasts 3 hours or longer.
- Getting a complimentary hotel stay for a flight that’s been delayed overnight, including ground transportation to the hotel.
- Getting a credit/travel voucher when a flight is delayed more than 3 hours and the passenger chooses not to rebook on another flight (only about half the airlines on the list will do this).
No airlines listed on the chart claim to offer reimbursement when a flight is delayed or canceled. However, in 2024, the DOT established the Automatic Refund Rule, stating that if a change in the time or itinerary of your flight is significant and you opt out of being rebooked or taking a voucher, you can generally receive a refund even if you purchased a non-refundable ticket.
A change is considered “significant” if:
- Your domestic flight departs 3+ hours earlier or arrives 3+ hours later than originally scheduled.
- Your international flight departs 6+ hours earlier or arrives 6+ hours later than planned.
- The airline changes your origin or destination airport.
- Your itinerary has more connections than originally scheduled.
- You’re downgraded to a lower class of service due to the flight change.
Under the Automatic Refund Rule, passengers do not need to request a refund if they refuse other accommodations when a significant delay or cancellation has been made. Credit-card purchases should automatically be refunded within 7 business days, and all other payment methods should be refunded within 20 calendar days. But if the change is minor, for instance, a delay of just an hour or so, airlines do not have to give your money back.
What if the Airline Refuses to Give Me a Refund?
If you qualify for a refund and do not receive it within the allotted time frame, you can file a complaint with the DOT. You will need to provide booking details (ticket/itinerary/invoice), flight details (dates/flight numbers/city pairs), and supporting documentation such as a copy of the complaint you filed with the airline or ticket agent, if available.
Keep in Mind That Your Airline Cancellation Refund May Not Cover the Full Cost of a Future Flight
Some passengers assume getting their money back for a flight means they can simply purchase the same flight later for the same price. However, flight costs can fluctuate significantly from day to day, week to week, and month to month. It’s possible that if you do not accept a rebooking because it doesn’t fit your schedule at the moment, you may have to spend more money in the future to take the same trip.
What Are My Rights if My Luggage is Lost Due to a Flight Change?
Delays at one airport can often cause passengers to miss their connecting flights. When this happens, luggage tends to make it to the final destination even if the passenger doesn’t. Or, the luggage doesn’t make the connection when the passenger does. With a few exceptions, most passengers are entitled to a refund if they paid a baggage fee and his or her baggage has been declared lost or has been significantly delayed.
A checked bag is considered “significantly delayed” if it is not delivered within 12 hours after a domestic flight has arrived. For international flights, a bag is considered significantly delayed if it isn’t delivered within 15 hours after the flight has arrived if the flight was 12 hours or less in duration, and within 30 hours if the flight was more than 12 hours in duration.
To receive a refund of the baggage fee for a significantly delayed bag, you must file a mishandled baggage report with the airline as soon as you learn that your bag did not arrive with you at your destination.
Where Does Travel Insurance Come in if an Airline Changed My Flight?
Travel insurance is mainly to protect your trip investment if you need to cancel a flight because of illness, injury, or a death in the family. It also covers the cost of your flight if other things happen out of your control, such as severe weather in your destination (a cruise that’s been canceled due to a hurricane, for example).
But travel insurance can be a valuable asset if your luggage gets lost due to a flight change. Airlines are only required to pay for baggage fees; not for the cost of the bags themselves or the personal belongings inside. Travel insurance covers all of it.
Attorneys at Kane Personal Injury Know Airline Passenger Rights
When travel goes wrong, our law firm has an extensive understanding of passenger rights. Whether you’ve been involved in a dispute with an airline or are curious about how to pursue compensation after an airline accident, we’d love to talk. Contact us today for free.
