The rule that surprises most people
The US Department of Transportation's refund rule is blunt: if an airline cancels your flight, you are entitled to a refund of the ticket price regardless of the reason, as long as you choose not to travel and do not accept a travel credit or voucher. A significant delay or schedule change counts the same way.
In the situations the rule defines, the refund is supposed to be automatic — money back to the original form of payment, including taxes and the fees you paid for services you never received.
A voucher is a choice, not a requirement
The gate agent may offer a travel credit because it is quicker to issue. You are allowed to decline it and ask for the refund instead. The same goes for add-ons: a checked-bag fee or an assigned seat you never used is refundable, because that service was not delivered.
What counts as significant is defined by specific thresholds — a delay or early departure measured in hours is one of them — so I check the current definition against your actual itinerary rather than quoting a number from memory.
What each airline has already promised
DOT publishes a cancellation and delay dashboard listing what carriers have committed to when the disruption was within their control: rebooking you on the same airline at no extra cost, rebooking on a partner airline, a meal once the wait runs past a few hours, an overnight hotel, ground transport. Those commitments vary carrier by carrier, and the dashboard is the place to look yours up before you are standing in line.
The first ten minutes
- Get the disruption and the reason in writing — the app record counts, a screenshot of the notification counts too.
- Decide before you reach a counter whether you still want to fly; that answer changes what you ask for.
- If you would rather not travel, ask for a refund to your original payment method, not a voucher, and ask for the bag and seat fees back as well.
- If you do fly, ask what the carrier has committed to for meals, lodging and rebooking, and keep every receipt.
- Tell me the moment it happens. The ship, the hotel, the car and the event are pieces I can move; the airline refund is yours to claim.
What I handle for you
When a flight falls apart, the trip around it is the part that can quietly collapse — the cruise that sails without you, the transfer already paid for, the dinner reservation nobody cancelled. I rework those pieces the same day, keep the airline conversation honest about what you are owed, and make sure nothing new gets charged until you have agreed to it.